Diabolik Lovers: The Elm Witch
by Marie Antonia
Summary: In exchange for pretending to be a sacrificial bride while the true bride fled, she had been promised both her freedom and the whereabouts of what was taken from her. After all, a good witch never does anything for free. If anything, she was glad that living with six vampires would finally ease her boredom. Rating may change.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Diabolik Lovers, they are owned by Rejet. I only own my own OCs. Seriously, I don't want to get sued. To be honest if I** _ **did**_ **own Diabolik Lovers I would have Yui grow a pair and kick ass, but that's just me. By the way, I am still going to be working on my other story "** _ **Diabolik Lovers: Justine**_ **." I just happened to come up with the idea for this story and wanted to write it.** **Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

 _Diabolik Lovers: The Elm Witch_

 _Prologue_

To say that Yui was nervous would most definitely be an understatement. To be fair, she was going far away from home to stay with relatives she had never even heard of while her father was away on business. She was trying to put on a brave and optimistic face, but inside she was a nervous mess. She wished that she had at least met these "relatives" of hers beforehand, then she would know what they were like.

It was strange, though. If her father trusted these people enough to let them take care of his only daughter while he was away, then why had he never even mentioned them before? She knew that her father's parents had both passed on, and her own mother had died when she was just an infant, so her father told her. A distant cousin maybe, or perhaps an aunt or uncle that Seiji Komori just never got around to introducing her to?

Sitting in the car being driven to her new home, Yui clutched the silver crucifix she almost always wore around her neck. She just had to have faith. God would see her through this, no matter what.

Wanting to break the feeling of tension, Yui attempted to engage in conversation with the driver.

"Um, so how long have you been a chauffeur?" she asked him weakly, hoping that some interaction with another person would make this car ride go by faster. However, while she did not expect him to turn back and look at her (he had to focus on driving, after all), he said absolutely nothing, not even make any sort of acknowledgement that he had heard her. This made Yui's face go slightly red with embarrassment, thinking that she had done or said something to make him displeased with her. Her efforts at conversation had only made the atmosphere in the car even more tense than before, effectively ensuring that the drive would be slow, silent, and awkward.

"I-I'm sorry…" she apologized, really only because she felt that she had to for whatever she had done to make him upset with her. Her father had raised her to always be polite and courteous, and whenever she did something wrong she must atone in anyway. This usually meant an apology, since Yui almost never got into any sort of trouble. Her father always said that God had blessed him with such a well-behaved child, and she liked to live up to that image. However, she was pulled from her musings when that driver spoke for the first time since she got into the car.

"What the hell…?"

Yui, curious about the driver suddenly gaining the ability to verbally communicate, rolled down the car window and took a peek out onto the road.

It was what looked to be a person just standing in the middle of the road, still as a statue. The strange figure was about was about 25 meters away from the car, too far away to make out any distinguishable facial features. However, the way the mystery person was shaped made it look like they were wearing either a dress or a very long skirt, so Yui came to the conclusion that they were female.

She only stared at them for about 20 seconds before she could see them move and slowly make their way over to the car, which made more of the person visible to Yui. She was right about the figure being a woman; a girl, really. She could not be any older than Yui herself, and looked to be only slightly taller than her as well. Her hair was light brown, long, and stringy, hinting at the possibility that she did not regularly brush it. She certainly did not out as much effort into maintaining it as Yui, since it was so long that it reached all the way down her back. She wore a long, faded green dress with a brown cotton cardigan overtop. Slung along her shoulder was a worn, leather duffle bag. The strangest thing about this girl, however, was the fact that she was not wearing any shoes. She was completely barefoot, with dirt covering her feet.

It was eerie. Yui did not know why, but something about the girl felt almost otherworldly as she stalked towards them, giving off a creepy, sinister vibe. She was visibly unkempt, what with her messy hair, old looking clothing, and bare feet. She reminded Yui of the people that would come in from the streets to her father's church in search of food or a place to sleep for the night, though they did not give off creepy vibes like she did. Yui could not place her finger on any specific reason, but she just seemed _scary_.

The driver let out a frustrated grunt when the girl came closer walked closer to the car, getting out to confront her.

"Hey! Are you trying to get yourself killed? Don't stand in the middle of the road!" he yelled at her, strutting towards her. However, even when he caught up to her she continued to walk to the car, ignoring the angry man completely. A shiver went down Yui's spine as she began to get nervous. The girl was clearly not interested in the driver's complaints about her endangering them all, nor did she even take note of his presence. The girl looked straight ahead as she got closer and closer to the car, now making eye contact with Yui. Her eyes were hazel in colour, dull and doll-like. They made Yui visibly shutter, feeling as though she were staring directly into her soul. She never broke eye contact as she finally got to the front of the vehicle and walked towards Yui's passenger window.

Internally panicking, Yui rolled her window back up before the creepy young girl could get to her. When she did, she just stood there, looking at Yui with her lifeless, yet somehow still piercing hazel eyes. She could see the driver stomping over to them in her peripheral vision, no longer looking irritated but outright angry.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Get away from there!" he yelled. In an instant, the girl finally broke eye contact with Yui and snapped her head towards him, her eerie eyes falling on him. They seemed to have the same effect on him as they did on Yui as he flinched at her gaze, but still tried to put on a brave face. He was not going to let some creepy bitch stop from delivering the bride to _them_.

The girl pulled away from the car window and began to walk over to him, still not breaking eyes contact even to blink. The driver unconsciously took a step back, just wanting this creep to get away from him. Then, when she was about 2 meters away from him, she finally spoke.

"… You are delivering this girl to her death… You know that right?" her voice was flat and somewhat gravelly, indicating that she most likely did not speak very often. While her voice was not unpleasant to listen to, it also carried an air of unease, make both Yui and the driver now visibly uncomfortable.

" _How did you_ … W-What are you talking about?" he stuttered out, still trying to process the strange situation he now found himself in. Yui, having rolled her window once again to hear the exchange, felt both fear and confusion. What did she mean he was "driving her to her death?" Was he planning on hurting her or something? Her father had spent a large portion of her early childhood telling her about _stranger danger_ , warning her not to get into cars or walk away with people she did not know. But when she arrived at the bus stop, the driver knew her by name and where she was going, plus she had been told someone would transport her to wherever she would be staying for the next few months. Once again, Yui could feel a little voice in her head saying that this whole "staying with her mysterious relatives" thing was a bad idea from the start.

"Do not try and fool me. I know all about your job, and I know what will happen to this girl when you drop her off at their doorstep…" the girl spoke again, this time her voice sounding a bit firmer with a sliver of distaste. Yui, finally having decided to open the door and step out of the car, looked to the driver for his response. His face was now twisted into a snarl, bristling with anger.

"What do you care? I'm just doing what they pay me to do, it's a job! Why should I care what happens to them?" he retorted, his voice brimming with a sense of self-righteousness.

"… So you feel no guilt for handing countless young girls over to them, as though they were lambs for the slaughter?" she asked him, her eyes narrowing at his face.

"Of course not! _**I'm**_ not the one who keeps killing them, _**they**_ are! I've done nothing wrong!" he defended himself, causing Yui to shrink back in shock. This man was knowingly sending her to a place where she would die? How did this happen? Did her father know? No, of course he couldn't have! Her father loved her; he would never purposefully put her in danger.

"W-What's going on? I need to talk to my father!" Yui cried, unconsciously looking to the girl who she had been afraid of not even a minute ago for help. The driver, as if suddenly remembering that Yui was a person who existed, turned his head to her as his eyes widened in realization at him mistake. The sacrificial brides were never supposed to learn where they were really going before they arrived, damn it!

Marching over to Yui and grabbing her forearm tightly, he began to drag her back to the car with the intention of forcing her into the backseat.

"No! Let me go! I need to talk to my father!" Yui protested, trying her best to pull herself away from the incensed driver. However, due to the fact that she had never been particularly strong, her efforts proved useless as she could not fight against his tight grip.

"Damn it! Get in, you stupid bitch! I have to get you there before sundown!" he yelled as he continued to tug on Yui's arm, making her wince in pain. However, all movement ceased when they both saw a hand with longer than usual fingernails wrap itself around the driver's own forearm. Yui and the driver turned to see the girl, who was now standing right by them with a death grip on his arm and staring at him with a bone chilling glare. As he looked down, he could see the skin on his arm beginning to turn black in colour around the area she was holding onto.

After a moment passed, the man flinched when the now marked arm that the girl was holding onto was overcome by a horrible itching, which almost gave him the feeling his arm was on fire. Releasing Yui from his grip, he pulled his forearm away from the girl as he stumbled back in pain, his shell shocked mind trying to process what was causing the sudden, unbearable ache. His took it into his other hand and examined it for a few seconds before his blood ran cold when he spotted what was wrong.

He could clearly see that the skin on his arm was moving and shifting, unsightly bulges scurrying around inside his flesh. Disgusted and horrified, the driver let out a scream as he began to scratch at his arm in an effort to dig out whatever was inside of his body. Yui, now no longer holding the man's attention, took two steps away from him in fear and revulsion. She could see something writhing beneath his skin, and it disgusted her just as much as it frightened him. She turned to the girl to see her reaction, only to see that her face was still expressionless, though her glare had now become much more sinister. The hand that she had used to grip the driver's arm was now resting nonchalantly at her side, her fingers curling and uncurling into a weak fist.

The man's screaming became wracked with pain as his fingernails broke through the skin, red blood gushing out of the open wound. One of the bulges was released from underneath his flesh, landing on the road with a loud, wet _plop_. Looking down, Yui almost threw up when she saw that the bugle had actually been a large, black cockroach, still very much alive and writhing on the ground covered in the driver's blood. He noticed it as well, his screams becoming more and more shrill as more of the unsightly insects began to crawl out from underneath his skin and land on the ground below. As if coming to the conclusion that the nameless girl had somehow caused his arm to suddenly become infested with roaches, he turned to her with a look that both cursed her for doing this to him and begged her desperately to make it stop.

" **What the hell did you do to me?!** _**Whaaa…**_ " his anguished screams were cut short by him suddenly gagging on what at first appeared to be nothing. As he continued to wretch, he actually shed a tear when he regurgitated yet another cockroach, followed by another, and another. The insects were covered in a thick, black bile that oozed out of his mouth and congealed into a puddle on the ground.

Now no longer able to speak or even breathe, the man pathetically stumbled towards the girl, holding out his arm that still bled blood and roaches to her as a cry for help. His silent plea fell on deaf ears, however, as the girl simply glared down at him as he fell to the ground, his body convulsing violently as more of the insects began to burst out from his other arm, worming their way out of his body. Yui couldn't even scream, her entire body being paralyzed with fear as the driver became little more than a polluted meat sack for the cockroaches to emerge from as the light finally faded from his tear stained eyes.

Feeling her legs go weak, she fell on her knees to the ground as she watched the last of the repulsive insects leave the driver's defiled, rapidly decaying corpse and scurry off into the woods that surrounded the road. Feeling tears run down her face, she tried to tell her body to move, to run away from the horrific scene, but it would not respond, staying put and effectively trapping her on the road with a frightening girl who somehow made dozens of large, black cockroaches erupt from a person's body.

Yui could feel her heart stop when the girl turned to look directly at her, emotionless hazel eyes burrowing into her very soul. When she began to walk towards her, she tried to get up and run away only for her lose balance and fall onto her bottom. Desperate, she began to slide painfully against the gravel as she tried to crawl away. With fat, wet tears rolling down her face, she weakly pleaded for her life,

"N-No… Please don't… Please…" Her whimpers fell upon deaf ears as the girl continued to make her way towards Yui. When she got close enough, she knelt down to her eye level and continued to stare into Yui's pink orbs with her hazel ones. Not saying a word, she reached into her cardigan's pocket and pulled something out. Yui, not wanting to know what exactly would be used to end her life in the most horrific way imaginable, closed her eyes and turned her head away from the girl.

When she felt nothing happen, however, she reluctantly opened her eyes to see the girl's outstretched hand, with a small, folded piece of paper resting in her palm. Seeing that Yui would not be moving on her own, she took hold of her hand with her remaining free one, eliciting a scream from the terrified girl from the sudden physical contact. Wrenching Yui's hand towards her, the girl put the paper into her open palm before letting go of her.

Now holding the mysterious piece of paper, the rattled Catholic girl looked down at her hands in panic, fearing the same black mark that appeared on the driver's arm would appear on her as well, which would lead to a similar gruesome death. However, she saw that her hands were completely clean, not a trace of darkened skin to be found. No writhing lumps underneath her skin either, thank God…

Daring to look away from the girl kneeling in front of her, Yui unfolded the paper in her hand to find what looked like the address of the bus station she had gotten into the car from and a phone number jotted down. Yui felt her heart fill with both relief and confusion as she recognized the handwriting on the note as her fathers. She looked up at the girl for answers, her fear beginning to melt away. She involuntarily flinched as the girl spoke again in her flat, gravelly voice.

"It should be about a thirty-minute walk from here to the address on the paper. When you get there, call the number on the note. Your father will answer, and arrive to pick you up from there." The girl spoke plainly, once again with no emotion showing on her face. Yui, not really knowing how to react from the emotional whiplash she was suffering from, obediently nodded her head in confirmation. Seeing this, the girl reached once again into her cardigan pocket and retrieved a small, black cellphone. She placed it firmly in Yui's hand before speaking again.

"Use this cellphone to call him; you will have no need for yours' anymore." Saying this, she once again reached into her pocket only to pull out Yui's pink flip phone. Shocked at this, she patted the pockets of her shorts only to find empty space where her phone should have been. How on earth did she…?

Yui's thoughts were interrupted when the girl nonchalantly crushed the cellphone in her hand, reducing it to useless, broken pieces of plastic and wiring. She felt the urge to protest, but in light of what had just occurred in front of her, she decided against doing so.

Grabbing onto Yui's arm, the girl dragged them both up to their feet, Yui wobbling slightly as she stood up, what with her legs feeling like jello. Holding onto the note and the phone, she looked to the creepy girl who simply pointed towards the path she had been driven from and simply said,

"Go."

Yui did not need to be told twice, running as fast as she could down the road to the bus station, eager to call her father and get some answers as to what had just happened. When the girl could no longer see her, she walked to the forgotten car to open the trunk. Inside, she found Yui's beige suitcase, which she proceeded to open and search through. Finding an old student ID card that had most likely been packed by mistake, she looked down at the name on display.

 _Komori Yui_.

' _Well then,_ ' the girl thought to herself, ' _I suppose I am now Komori Yui. At least until he holds up his end of the bargain, of course…_ '

Putting the ID card back into the suitcase, the girl who would now be known as "Yui" walked away from the car, grabbed her duffle bag she had left on the ground near the driver's body, and walked off in the direction the car was going. She could see the sky darken as ominous storm clouds began to cover the sky, thunder roaring in the far distance.

Finally, she thought, she had something interesting to do…

* * *

 **Well, there's the prologue. I hope you like it.**


	2. The New Arrival

**Hey! I'm glad that you seemed to enjoy the prologue, as I've wanted to play around with this idea for a while now. Anyway, here's what is technically the first chapter.**

* * *

The Sakamaki household was unusually quiet that evening. Normally, one would hear either Kanato's crying and/or hysterical screaming, Subaru cursing up a storm, Ayato butting heads with someone over what he perceived to be a jab at his pride, Laito making some sort of loud, obscene moans, and Reiji scolding them for how noisy they were all being. Shuu, however, never made a fuss about anything unless it was about one of his brothers disturbing his near constant rest. Needless to say, a moment where there was any peace at all was indeed rare.

Intending to take full advantage of such an opportunity, Ayato decided to take a short nap on the loveseat near the main entrance that lead to the staircase. One might think it an odd place for a catnap, but this was Ayato's house. He had the right to do whatever he wanted, provided that Reiji did not show up uninvited and spoil his fun.

 _Take your personal activities to your rooms_. Please, Ayato should not be bound by rules set by someone who was not even the firstborn son! As if he would listen to Shuu, either.

He really only bothered opening one of his eyes when he heard the twin oak doors at the front entrance open. He could hear the thunder roar from outside, the fierce storm raging on. What did pull him out of his daze, however, was the sound of wet feet padding loudly against the marble floor. From the sound of it, the person intruding on both his home and his sleep was not wearing any shoes, making him briefly wonder if some random, unlucky transient had approached the mansion for whatever reason.

Ayato decided to finally get up from the loveseat when he heard the rain-drenched footsteps suddenly stop, whoever was in the hall seemed to be just stand there, completely unmoving. Walking towards the general direction of the footstep's origin, he was rather surprised to see a young girl around his physical age, barefoot and drenched head to toe in rainwater. As he suspected, she was standing in the middle of the hall, not making a sound, and turning her head in different directions to obverse the main entrance of the mansion. Her long brown hair was matted against her face and body, having become heavy with water. Her clothes were in no better shape either as they stuck to her body. She had also dropped a large, leather duffel bag onto the floor next to her. Her feet were not only wet but also filthy, having tracked through wet mud outside to get to the mansion. Damn, Reiji was going to be pissed when he saw all of the dirt on the entrance hall's marble floor, he thought briefly.

Ayato raised an eyebrow. Had she walked all the way here through the storm or something?

He made no effort to be hide himself as he marched over to the girl, ready to confront her about waking him up and tracking mud on the floor.

"Oi! Who the hell are you?" he yelled, not really caring if any of his brothers heard him. Besides, he had an annoying human to deal with., he could be as loud as he wanted.

In an instant, the girl snapped her head towards him, staring him down with her cold, hazel eyes. Ayato flinched, the girl's unnerving glare catching him off guard and momentarily stopping him in his tracks. He had never seen such a cold, penetrating glare on a human before. The human girls he had dealt with in the past were docile, polite, and obedient. After all, that was how the Church had raised them to act before they sent them to Ayato and his brothers. But this one… he did not quite know what to think about her. But what he did know was that she was seriously annoying him.

"Hey, stop staring at me! Answer my question!" he snarled, becoming more and more irritated by her lack of outward emotion. Despite the harshness in his voice, she still did not make a sound, almost acting as though she did not hear him. But he could definitely tell that she had in fact heard him, choosing to not verbally respond and just continue to direct her unsettling gaze at him.

Inwardly chastising himself for allowing a human to freak him out, he went back to walking towards the girl until he was standing directly in front of her, matching her glare with one of his own. Still she did not move or say a word, she just continued to look up at him with her damn creepy eyes.

Having enough of this nonsense, Ayato grabbed her chin and yanked it upwards, exposing her neck to his acid green gaze. He let a smirk run across his face as he examined her, deciding that she would at the very least make a good meal for him. While she definitely was not what he would consider to be cute, she was at the very least not ugly, given that she actually had a nice, heart shaped face now that he was getting a better look at her. He figured she could be considered attractive if she put some effort into maintaining her appearance and did not look like such a slob, what with her stringy, unkempt hair and worn clothing.

Oh well. Even though she was not his usual type, he figured he could still have some fun with her. Besides, she needed to be punished for disturbing his rest.

Grabbing her by the wrist in order to pull her towards him, Ayato took her wet brown hair into his other hand and pried her head upwards so that he could have better access to her neck. He had to admit, the sight of her unbitten, exposed, and pale neck did make her a bit more appealing to him. He buried his face into the crook of her neck and took deep breath of her scent, knowing that this always drew out a scream from humans. However, the nameless girl surprised him once again by having a very unusual smell. She lacked the sweetness that usually drew him in, but she had a strange _zing_ to her that he could not completely identify. Strange, but not unpleasant; just like her.

Ayato dragged his tongue across her neck, anticipating the shocked scream and the shiver that would wrack her body. But alas, he was again disappointed when she had no reaction to him violating her personal space at all. No screaming, not chills running down her spine, **nothing at all**. It felt was as if he was about to feed on one of Kanato's stupid dolls.

Her lack of wonderful reactions was really starting to get on his nerves. At the very least he still was looking forward to hearing her shriek in agony when his fangs plunged painfully into her skin, though.

Before he could make her cry out in pain, however, he heard an all too familiar voice behind him.

"Ayato, what's all the commotion?" Of course, his damn brother always had to ruin the moment!

Stupid Reiji, always spoiling his fun. Not only had the girl not given him any good reactions, his uptight older brother had to walk in on him when he was getting to the best part! Now Ayato was in a truly foul mood.

"Damn, not you, Reiji..." He growled, looking behind him to see the bespectacled vampire standing there with his arms crossed and a look of distain on his face.

"This is the entrance hall. This is meant to be used as a place to greet our guests. Take your activities to your private room." Reiji lectured, his magenta eyes roaming from Ayato to attempting to get a good look at his newest prey. Groaning in frustration, the red-haired vampire stepped away from the rain soaked girl, who stood in her spot completely still.

Reiji took in the girl's appearance, and needless to say he was not pleased with what he found. Apparently not thinking to bring any sort of protection from the storm outside, she was completely drenched, a puddle of rainwater forming beneath her. What appalled him more, however, was her filthy, bare feet. Was this human truly so uncivilized that she saw nothing wrong with going barefoot and tracking mud all over the floor of someone else's house? He rarely saw such abysmal manners in a person, whether they be human or vampire; he made a mental note to thoroughly discipline this girl after he figured out why she was there in the first place.

Nevertheless, he still made his way to her, stopping when he was standing directly in front of her dripping-wet form.

"And who might you be?" Reiji made no effort to hide the disdain in his voice, wanting the human in front of him to know fully well that she disgusted him. For a few moments, she continued to stand there, not making a sound, until she finally spoke for the first time since arriving at the Sakamaki household.

"I am… Yui Komori… I was told that I was going to live here…" Her voice sounded flat and gravelly, possessing no more emotion than her face did. It also sounded unused, so it seemed as though she was a woman of few words. Though to be honest, both Ayato and Reiji would have preferred she remained silent; her voice carried a strange air of unease.

"I have heard nothing of the sort," Reiji replied, looking to his younger half-brother for answers. "Ayato, explain the situation to me."

"Eh? How am I supposed to know what's going on?" the red-haired vampire protested, turning his attention back to the girl whose name was apparently Yui. Not that he gave a damn about whatever her stupid name. "You didn't mention anything like that to me, Oddball."

Her hazel eyes shifted to Ayato as she narrowed her gaze into a sinister glare, silently letting him know that she did not care for his questionable choice of nickname for her. He turned his nose up and looked away from her, partly from his own haughtiness but also from his wanting to avoid direct eye contact with her.

Reiji let out a tired sigh, pushing up his sagging glasses with his hand. What a mess this whole situation was turning out to be…

"I was not informed that anyone was coming to stay with us. Nevertheless, this is not the place to discuss such matters. However," He looked down at Yui once again, taking in her slovenly appearance.

"Considering that you are in no condition to be in the parlour room, you will be escorted to one of the guest rooms in order to make yourself presentable." Just as he finished his statement, out from the shadows came a man who seemed to embody the archetype of the "silent, loyal butler." He took Yui's leather duffel back from where she had dropped it on the ground.

"See to her luggage and escort her to one of the guest bedrooms." Reiji ordered the servant, to which he responded with a nod. The butler looked to her, silently saying that he should follow him. She did just that, walking away with the servant, not even glancing in Ayato or Reiji's direction as she did so. With that taken care of, Reiji vanished from the entrance hall as well, leaving Ayato by himself, confused and irritated.

* * *

Several minutes later, Ayato, angry with having his snack taken away from him, ascended the staircase in order to find Yui, or Oddball as he had decided to call her. He thought it was a fitting name, given that if he looked up the definition of the word "odd" in the dictionary he would most likely find a picture of her next to it. It frustrated him to no end that she somehow managed to creep him out. He was a vampire, damn it! He was not one to be intimidated by a lowly human!

Yet here he was, chasing after the girl he did not even get to have a taste of yet.

As he walked through the mansions many halls in search of Oddball's room, he heard a familiar sultry chuckle. Oh wonderful, this was just what he needed right now…

"Ne, Ayato? I heard there was a cute human girl here, do you know where she is~?" asked Laito, standing next to Kanato, his trademark smirk on his face. Ayato's frown deepened at the sight of his triplet brothers, knowing they would try to steal what was his.

"Hn! _Cute_ is the last word I'd use to describe her. She's just some creepy slob!" he scoffed to his triplet brothers, who both widened their eyes in surprise. Sure, they'd had girls who could be best described as plain, but never creepy. It was generally known that humans were not frightening in any way; not to vampires, at least. They were weak, pathetic creatures whose only significant purpose was to be used as sources of blood by creatures of the night such as themselves. They were simply not intimidating.

Kanato tilted his head in confusion, "If she is creepy, why are you looking for her? Ayato's confusing me; right, Teddy?" Kanato asked his beloved stuffed companion, as if he was expecting an actual verbal response. Ayato and Laito had learned to ignore their purple-haired brother whenever he talked to that stupid bear their mother had given him years ago.

Ayato growled in annoyance at his triplet's question.

"Shaddup! It doesn't matter if she's cute or creepy; what matters is that Yours Truly was the one who saw her first, so she belongs to me! Consequently, Yours Truly will be her first everything!" he barked at them, hating the fact that he had to explain something that should have been painfully obvious.

"How lame… I'm so tired of hearing you call yourself " _Yours Truly_ " all the damn time…" an irritated voice rang out from behind the triplets. All three of them turned to look at who had just accosted Ayato, and found that it was Subaru, the youngest of the Sakamaki brothers who had no doubt been woken up from his sleep and came to check out what all of the noise was about.

"Screw off, Subaru! Piss me off again and I'll kill you, I swear!" Ayato yelled at his younger brother, having enough of that annoying kid's crap. Subaru snarled back at his older half-brother.

"Fuck you. You're the one who interrupted my precious sleep." He countered, the agitation between the brothers growing thicker by the second.

"Now don't be like that, Subaru-kun. We were just on our way to see a cute little human girl, so don't be so angry, little brother~." Laito added, which did not at all help to dispel the hostile atmosphere.

"Shut the hell up, pervert! I don't consider any of you to be my brothers, so don't call me that!" Subaru, shouted, letting his anger take him over and punch at the window next to him, causing the glass to shatter into pieces and let part of the raging storm from outside into the mansion. Shards few out of window and fractured into smaller pieces when they hit the ground below. None of the triplets were particularly intimidated by Subaru's display of rage, however. The youngest brother losing his temper and destroying something was very common in the Sakamaki household, so they had all gotten used to it.

"What a strange scent…" Kanato's voice broke through, causing the three other vampires to look at him. They had not noticed the purple-haired brother staring off into the dark hallway, seemingly enraptured by the human's smell he had just picked up. This reminded Ayato of what he had come there to do in the first place, which was find Oddball. He hated that he had allowed his brothers to distract him like this.

Ayato walked past his brothers in a huff and continued his search for Yui, not caring that the four other vampires began to follow behind him, wanting to see the girl for themselves. Even Subaru, despite his hostile demeanour, could not lie and say he was not the least bit interested in the human with the odd scent that was causing such a fuss. When the girl's scent became stronger, they came across an odd sight.

A servant, the same one that had taken Yui's leather bag and escorted her to a guest bedroom, and currently busy knocking on a door with one hand and jiggling the knob with his other. His face was panicked, worried about what would happen if he did not get into the room.

"Miss, please! Reiji-sama has requested your presence in the parlour, you mustn't keep him waiting. Please open the door!" he called to her from outside, desperate for her to open the door and apparently still having not noticed the four Sakamaki brothers standing not too far from him. When he did catch on to their presence, he turned to them like a deer in headlights, afraid of what they will do to him seeing that he failed his orders.

"Y-Young Masters… I was just c-collecting the human girl from the room we provided her with…" he muttered, still nervous at the possible consequences of showing incompetence of any kind. He was hoping he would be spared Reiji's whip, which was what the bespectacled vampire used to discipline others with. He could see that while Laito and Kanato were merely curious, Ayato and Subaru looked angry at the sudden obstacle that prevented them from getting a look at the human. The agitated red-haired vampire marched over to the poor servant and tugged at the collar of his shirt, glaring directly into his terrified eyes.

"Don't you know how to unlock doors? How stupid are you?!" Ayato yelled at the now cowering servant. He held out his arms between him and the irritated vampire prince as a sign of pleading.

"But A-Ayato-sama… The d-door is not locked!" Hearing this, Ayato responded with the o-so-eloquent,

" _Huh_?" He let go of the butler at allow him to explain.

"As the Young Masters surely know… the rooms that we keep humans inside of _do not have locks_. That way no human will be able to shut any of you out. But even though this door does not have any sort of locks, I can't seem to get it open." He explained, hoping that Ayato will show him some semblance of mercy and let him go. Although he proceeds to do just that, he throws the butler across the hall, landing painfully on the carpeted floor. Ayato does not pay him any mind, however, as he is now standing directly in front of the wooden door.

"Oi! Oddball, open the damn door! You're pissing me off!" he yelled, having enough of playing nice with the girl who seemed to become more and more annoying. Just as he raised his fist to pound on the door, it opened by itself, gently swinging open to reveal _**her**_.

Yui was sitting at the foot of the large, pink canopy bed, completely motionless and glaring directly at Ayato as if she was waiting for him. Her long hair and clothes were no longer wet, though he noticed that she had still not put on any sort of footwear. Her hazel eyes were just as unnerving as before, burrowing into his green orbs. When she abruptly sat up from the bed, Ayato flinched at the sudden movement. She walked forward until she was directly in front of him, Ayato unconsciously taking a step back to allow her to leave the room.

She completely ignored the four vampires staring at her in confusion, wondering how she had locked a door that did not have a lock and how she had seemed to open it again without even touching it. She looked to her right at the butler, who had been able to pick himself up from where Ayato had thrown him. He too flinched at her gaze.

"R-Reiji-sama has ordered for you to come down to the parlour, please come t-this way…" he managed to stutter out as he walked down the hall with Yui following behind him. The four Sakamaki brothers just stared at her walking away, all coming to the conclusion that yes, _there was indeed something very wrong with this human…_

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Please leave a review, and I'll get started on the next chapter as soon as I can.**


	3. The Withered Seedling

**Alright, we've made it to the 3** **rd** **chapter! I'm happy you guys are liking it. I've wanted to do a story like this for a while, where I try to go for a darker interpretation of a witch. Well anyway, on with the chapter. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

When Ayato, Laito, Kanato and Subaru each separately made their way to the parlour, Reiji had already begun to question "Yui", who was sitting on the blue couch, responding to each of Reiji's questions with silence. The bespectacled vampire was getting more and more impatient with the human girl, not that he would allow himself to outwardly show his irritation in his demeanour, remaining as stiff and poised as always. He was a proper gentleman, after all.

"I will not pardon your rudeness nor will I ask you again. You will tell me about yourself and inform me on how you came to enter this house." He repeated, his voice trying not to strain with agitation. He merely allowed his eyes to narrow onto her face, not that his glare seemed to have any effect on her.

Laito, teleporting himself directly behind her, could not help but laugh at the amusing spectacle.

"Well, well, well, you seem to be having quite a bit of trouble getting her to speak, don't you Reiji-kun?" He teased, resting his hands on Yui's stiff shoulders. He bent down to her level, brushing her long brown hair out of his sight and exposing the side of her pale face.

"Don't worry; I can get her to make all sorts of noises~." Laito crooned, before licking her cheek with his wet tongue. The sultry look on his face turned into one of surprise, however, when she did not react at all to his inappropriate actions. Not only that, but her taste was rather strange as well. It was definitely that of a human's, but _off_ in some way. It tasted warped. Luckily in her case, warped did not necessarily mean unpleasant.

Ayato, angry that Laito dared to touch what he had clearly said before belonged to him, marched over and pushed his triplet brother away from her, the fedora wearing vampire landing on the floor.

"What did I tell you about touching what's mine?" he grumbled at his brother, who nonchalantly picked both himself and his hat up from the ground. He smiled at his angry brother, clearly thinking that this whole situation was very amusing.

"Don't be so rough, Ayato-kun. I was just getting a taste~." He said, licking his lips. Ayato opened his mouth to retort, but was stopped by Reiji raising his voice at them.

" _Enough_. I do not care if you two want to squabble like children, but now is not the time." Laito merely shrugged his shoulders while Ayato swore under his breath and turned his nose away from his triplet, not wanting to admit to Reiji that he had been acting childishly in the slightest. The bespectacled vampire ignored both of them, however, and turned his attention back to the girl on the couch. Surprisingly enough, she had moved, but only to use her hand to wipe off Laito's saliva from her cheek. She then rubbed her hand into the blue couch in an effort clean her hands of the spit, which made Reiji grimace in disgust. It was quite clear now that this girl had absolutely no manners; he would definitely have to punish her later.

"So then, I guess you're the woman he told me about…" A voice called out from near the fire place. All five vampire turned to see Shuu, the eldest Sakamaki son, lying on the brown couch next to the marble fireplace. He did not even bother to open his eyes to address his younger brothers; he still looked as though he was fast asleep.

"Shuu, do you know something we do not about this woman?" Reiji tensely asked his lazy older brother, adjusting his glasses and narrowing his magenta eyes into a glare. Reiji did not care for Shuu at all; though it could be said that Reiji did not care for any of his brothers, but he definitely hated his older brother the most. He never made any attempt to hide his feelings towards his him, not that Shuu cared in the slightest. Shuu did not really care about anything, to be honest, which only made Reiji hate him even more.

"Maybe…" The eldest Sakamaki son replied half-heartedly.

"Don't "maybe" us. We want to know." Kanato spoke up, glaring at his eldest brother while he buried his face into his teddy bear. He was growing tired of all the confusion; he wanted to know who the girl was.

"The other day… that man contacted me…" Shuu began, the mere mention of " _that man_ " putting everyone slightly on edge.

"He said, _"We have a guest arriving from the church, so treat her with respect."_ " He finished, having said all that he could be bothered to say. Let his brothers figure it out from there, he was tired….

"What? So then Oddball over here is the prospective bride?" Ayato asked in slight disbelief, wondering why those idiots from the church would send such a slovenly girl to them as a bride. They usually had better standards than this.

"Oh, so that's all?" Kanato said, not all that thrilled from the answer he had been given.

"To be honest, she's more like a sacrifice than a bride." Laito chimed in, now casually leaning on the blue couch next to Yui.

Shuu piped up again, suddenly opening his blue eyes as he remembered a vital detail from _that man's_ instructions.

"Oh yeah… he also said that we cannot kill her." Laito perked up at this, looking to Yui with a knowing grin on his foxlike face.

"Really? Then I guess that means this is the beginning of a _very_ long relationship with you, Creepy-chan~." He said with glee, his face flushed with excitement as he imagined all of the things he was going to do to her. Reiji cleared his throat, bringing all attention back to him.

"Well, now that everything seems to be in order, allow us to introduce ourselves. That," he motioned to the sleeping vampire on the brown couch, "is Shuu, the eldest son. I am the second son, Reiji. This is the third son, Ayato,"

"You don't get away next time." The aforementioned redhead said menacingly.

"Kanato, the fourth son,"

"Please let me get a taste of you sometime soon…" Kanato muttered, smiling and clutching his teddy bear closer to his chest.

"Laito, the fifth son,"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Creepy-chan." Laito said, winking flirtatiously at Yui.

"And the last son, Subaru." Reiji finished, looking over to his youngest brother. Subaru said nothing to Yui directly, only grumbling under his breath, "What a waste of time…"

After finishing his introductions, Reiji turned to Yui to get her response. She continued to sit on the couch, but slightly nodded her head to acknowledge that she had heard him, and spoke in her low, flat voice.

"I am… Yui Komori…" Reiji frowned at this, haven been given information that he already knew. It irritated him to no end when people repeated themselves, especially when he was the one who had to do so. This human had better have the best tasting blood in the entire world, Reiji thought to himself. Otherwise he doubted that she would be worth the trouble of hosting her.

Before he could get in another word, Yui sat up from her seat on the couch next to Laito abruptly and began to walk away from the Sakamaki brothers. Reiji, having quite enough of her complete disregard for manners, was quick to scold her.

"It is very impolite to leave before I have even gotten to explaining the rules of the household for you. Really, how inconsiderate are you?"

Still, she acted as though she did not even hear him as she did not slow down her pace. Suddenly, Kanato appeared before her and blocked her path, looking rather cross with her.

"How rude… you think that you can just come and go whenever you please? Yui-san is so impolite, isn't she Teddy?" he said to his stuffed friend, seemingly not wanting to confront Yui herself about her behaviour and instead doing so through his beloved companion. However, as Kanato continued to speak to his bear, Yui's hazel eyes drifted to Teddy as well, her unnerving gaze narrowing down on him. Then, she began to reach out to the stuffed animal, pointing her index finger at Teddy's forehead. When Kanato noticed this, his entire demeanour changed from annoyed but docile to enraged and hysterical. He violently grabbed Yui by her wrist, lifting her up from the ground using his arm alone.

"What do you think you're doing?! Don't you dare think about touching Teddy, _you worthless mortal!_ " he screamed, purple eyes looking crazed with anger. This time, Yui did react to being violently assaulted by an enraged vampire, though not in the way any of them expected. Looking down at Kanato from where she was being held in the air, a sinister grin began to form on her face, as if she were making a mockery of his attempt to harm her. This only angered the purple haired vampire even more, not taking well to his ability to brutalize humans being made fun of.

"What are you smiling about?!" Kanato cried, not wanting to admit that her sudden change in demeanour confused or unnerved him in the slightest. This was usually the time when the human would realize that they were in very real danger and begin to cry and beg for their worthless life, essentially prostrating themselves before him. Of course, this was when he would either kill them or prolong their suffering; whatever he felt like doing at the time. He had to admit, he had never seen a mortal react quite like this when faced with the possibility of a painful death.

Kanato was so focused on his own inner thoughts that he did not see Yui's hand begin to lift upwards, inching its way to his arm that was holding her in the air. Just as she was about to grab onto his wrist, Ayato's angry voice dragged him out of his thoughts.

" _You damn brat_. Don't touch what belongs to Yours Truly!" he exclaimed, grabbing hold of Kanato's arm and squeezing tightly, causing him to let go of Yui's arm and drop her to the ground. She landed on her feet surprisingly steadily, considering that she had just been in the middle of being hoisted up like a ragdoll. She looked to be completely unaffected by Kanato's assault on her person, appearing completely calm and collected.

Ayato turned his attention to his triplet brother, who was still seething with rage.

"She glared at Teddy! She smirked at me! She had to be punished!" Kanato defended himself, not seeing anything wrong with what he had been doing. His actions had been completely justified; the stupid mortal should be grateful that he had no just killed her then and there for trying to touch Teddy. He could not do that yet, of course. First he had to get a taste of her.

"I don't give a damn your stupid bear. She's the property of Yours Truly, so don't even think about touching her without my permission!" Ayato argued back, hating having to explain this over and over to his simpleminded brothers.

Reiji signed deeply and adjusted his glasses.

"Well, Komori-san, it seems that you are already causing more trouble than y-…" he trailed off after noticing that the human who had started this entire mess was now gone; it was as if she had vanished into thin air. While Ayato and Kanato were still busy fighting, Laito also took notice of Yui's sudden disappearance.

"Creepy-chan?" he called out, finally getting his triplet brothers' attention. Looking around the entire parlour, it was clear that Yui was nowhere to be found.

"Where did she go?" asked Ayato. While angry that his new prey had escaped him once again, he still wondered how she had been able to leave the room so quickly without even making a sound.

Reiji, looking to see that Shuu was gone as well, most likely deciding to go back to his room to sleep, turned to Subaru for answers for Yui's whereabouts.

"Subaru, did you see where the bride went?" he asked his volatile younger half-brother. Subaru frowned in annoyance.

"What am I, her keeper? I don't know where she went." He grumbled, his reason for not seeing where she went hiding the more embarrassing fact that he had simply not been paying attention. Before Reiji could ask him any more questions, Subaru himself vanished from the room with the intention of going back to his coffin and getting some rest before school.

With Subaru gone, Ayato decided to look for Yui himself. With her long list of offenses, such as ignoring him, leaving without his permission and allowing his brothers to touch her, he would be sure to decide on an especially gruesome punishment for her. Though he had to find her first, of course.

"Oddball! You'd better show yourself! Hiding is pointless anyway, I'm going to find you eventually!" he called to her as he exited the parlour, intent on locating his prey.

Watching Ayato leave, Laito got up from his seat on the couch and stretched his arms out. While he had never seen a sacrificial bride act in such a way, he was definitely glad she was going to give them a good chase. The hunt was always more fun and ultimately satisfying when the prey gave them a good show by thinking they could actually escape from them. It truly amused Laito to no end.

"Well, I suppose I should go and join in on the fun. Want to come with me, Kanato?" he said, looking to his angry triplet. "If we find her before Ayato, we can have all sorts of fun~." He finished excitedly, a blush forming on his face. Kanato looked at his brother, a dark expression still present on his face.

"I still need to properly punish her for daring to try and touch Teddy. She's going to be begging for my mercy while she suffers horribly, right Teddy?" he looked down at his stuffed bear, his frown giving way to an eerie smile.

Laito, taking Kanato's response as a yes, walked confidently out of the parlour, his purple-haired brother following behind him.

"Then let's go. We can't keep our dear little sacrifice waiting~!" Laito exclaimed, he and Kanato disappearing into the winding corridors.

Reiji signed deeply.

What a troublesome bride they had been given.

* * *

Out of all of the Sakamaki brothers who were actually making an effort to find Yui, Subaru was the least likely to be the one to find her. He had woken from his rest once again and decided to take refuge in the rose garden. While he felt slightly intrigued by the new sacrificial bride and her odd behaviour, he was not interested enough to go chasing her around the mansion. Let the other bastards that live here hunt her down, he thought. But when he had made his way to the rose garden there she was, on her knees in the pouring rain in front of one of the rose bushes.

From a distance, it almost looked like she was in some sort of prayer. She was kneeling before the roses, her hands clasped in front of her, lips moving as though she were reciting scripture. She very well could have been praying to God to see her through this nightmare she found herself in. Many of the other brides had done the very same thing, actually thinking that prayer could save them. They would always be proven wrong in the end.

He felt the flames of his rage ignite when he realized the reason she was kneeling in front of his roses was because it appeared that she had just finished digging around in the muddy dirt, leaving herself covered in soil and many of his precious roses dug out of the ground and thrown to the side. Furious, he began to make his way over to confront her when he stopped in his tracks when he got a better look at exactly what she was doing.

Kneeling in front of the destroyed roses, rather than praying as he initially thought, she was actually whispering to something she was clasping in her hands, eyes closed and deep in thought, practically a trance. When she stopped, she held her hands high above her head before dropping the unseen object into the hole she had dug, sealing it back up with the previously discarded soil.

Feeling his anger return to him, Subaru walked over to Yui to let her have a piece of his mind.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled at her. In stark contrast to her usual response (that being none at all), she turned to look at him with a blank expression on her face. She began to speak in her strange, low voice,

"I'm planting. That's what you do in a garden, after all." It was not an apology, nor was it an attempt to justify her actions. She simply told him what she had done, as if she saw nothing wrong with tearing up someone else's garden of carefully groomed white roses. In all honesty thought, Subaru was slightly surprised that she decided to speak to him when she would not say a word to his brothers earlier.

Not satisfied with her plain response, he grabbed her by the wrist and tugged upwards, pulling her up from her place on the ground. Covered in mud and dirt, she looked up at him with her hazel eyes, not looking pleased at all with his rough treatment towards her.

Tch, it's not like she didn't deserve it, Subaru thought.

Catching the white haired vampire off guard, she pulled her wrist out of his grasp in one fluid motion, standing still while she tended to her arm that had been scratched by his nails. While they had not broken the skin and only left angry, red streaks on her pale complexion, Subaru was reminded of the reason that she was here. To be their own personal juice box.

On one hand, it would be rather annoying to see Ayato bitch and complain about how he had not been the first one to suck the new bride's blood. But on the other side, she technically belonged to all of them, so he had every right to drink her blood whenever he pleased.

Grabbing her by her bony shoulders, Subaru pulled her to him, her head facing her chest. He bent down to take in her scent, finding rather unusual just like his older half-brothers did. Once he found a nice vein to feed from, he opened his mouth wide, revealing long, sharp fangs. Just as he was about to tear through her flesh with his teeth, he flinched when he heard her begin to whisper in his ear.

" _Are vampires always as direct as you when they feed?"_ He shoved Yui away from him in surprise, causing her to stumble back, though she managed to save herself from falling backwards into the mud. Steadying herself, she just stared back at him with her eyes, as if she were looking into his core.

"So… you know…" Subaru managed to get out before he started to step away from her.

When the brides would inevitably find out they were vampires, there would be a variety of reactions. Most would try to immediately run away, others would scream, some would faint. There had even been a few that was entranced by their true nature, seeming to have a very strange idea of what vampires were really like. They were usually the ones that died the quickest.

He wondered exactly when she had realized what they were. Perhaps it was when Laito licked her, or when they were all discussing her strange scent. The Sakamakis' were admittedly not as discreet as they were supposed to be when they talked amoungst themselves, even when the bride was present. There was no point to do so, really, since she would find out what they were sooner or later.

"Yes, I do." Yui said. Subaru narrowed his red eyes at her, wondering why she seemed so calm about the fact that she was now living with six dangerous vampires who would eventually kill her. Did she not know that her life was in great jeopardy?

"So then, do you know why you're here? What we're going to do with you?" he asked her.

"You're all going to eat me. That much I assumed." She stated in a calm and neutral tone of voice.

He was truly beginning to think that she was just incredibly stupid and had no sense of self-preservation. No, that was not correct, he then thought. There was an awareness to her, an aura of fearlessness. She knew exactly what she was doing.

Which only served to confuse Subaru even more.

"You will definitely die if you stay here. Doesn't that scare you at all?"

"Not particularly, no."

Subaru's grimace turned into a full blown frown, showing his inner agitation. It seemed like this insipid human really did not care in the slightest that Subaru, or more likely one of his brothers, would end her life.

Why were all mortals this incredibly stupid? Didn't they care about their own lives?

Yui's expressionless face curled itself into a grin not unlike to the one she gave Kanato earlier. She was now giving off an air of confidence, as though she felt that there was truly nothing to fear. She began making her way out of the garden, striding closer and closer to Subaru before she stopped, now standing shoulder to shoulder with the white haired vampire. Ominous smile still on her face, she turned her head to the side to face him.

"Your concern is noted, but _I'll be_ _just fine…_ " She practically whispered in his ear, her voice letting him know full well that she was not intimidated by the situation in the slightest. She then strode off back into the mansion, leaving Subaru standing there in the garden, not really knowing how to react.

Part of him was affronted by the mortal's arrogance, another was frustrated at her complete lack of awareness of the danger around her. One small piece was feeling insulted about the fact that she interpreted Subaru's curiosity about her self-awareness as concern for her wellbeing. He didn't give a damn about her; he just wanted to see if she truly comprehended the situation she was in, that's all!

It never failed to amaze him just how stupid humans were.

As the annoyed vampire exited the garden in a huff with the intention of retreating back to his coffin before school started, he failed to notice the long forgotten hole in the middle of the rosebush that Yui had been so diligently attending to just minutes ago. The loose, damp soil filling the hole had begun to pulsate oh so slightly, gently rising and falling from the ground. But as soon Subaru was gone, the breathing became more and more intense, the seemingly living clump of dirt now resembling a beating organ.

Around the small ditch, the carelessly discarded white roses suddenly and rapidly began to wilt, even though they had only been plucked from their push mere minutes ago. The stem began to go limp and turn brown in colour, the petals become wrinkled as they lifelessly dropped off from the once beautiful flower onto the mud. As the flowers became withered old visages of their former glory, a long, black appendage wrapped itself around tightly around them before dragging the wilted roses below the earth, claiming them as its' own.

The pulsating earth began to slow and relax its beating, as if content.

* * *

 **Okay, so that was the 3** **rd** **chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and feedback is always welcome!**


	4. Corrupted Elixir

**Okay, new chapter! I have to say I'm really having fun writing this. Anyway, let's get on with the chapter.**

* * *

Reiji was quietly seething at the fact that he had to resort to chasing their missing bride all around the mansion because she had somehow been able to leave the parlour without him or any of his brothers noticing. While he was normally above such menial labour, his confidence in the mansion's servants was waning slightly seeing as their butler somehow could not manage to open a door that did not even have a lock on it. Such incompetence was unacceptable.

If you wanted a job done right, Reiji thought, then you would just have to do it yourself.

Deciding to check her designated room, he made his way upstairs and down the long, winding hallways. He would have to locate her soon, seeing as they would be late for school at this point. Luckily, he had already arranged for a female Ryoutei Academy uniform to be brought up to her, which should shave a few minutes off of their now hectic schedule.

Reiji could admit he did not have much experience with unruly brides. The girls brought to them before were always docile and obedient, albeit dimwitted, which he supposed was typical for humans. Still, he could always manage to keep them in line before they were inevitably killed by either him or one of his brothers.

But a bride who would ignore anything he said and just did whatever she pleased, that was something he was not used to. Reiji was not worried though; he would make sure that she fell in line sooner or later.

When he found her room, he saw that the door was slightly ajar with no light coming from the inside. It was possible that she was not there at all, but Reiji had to be sure. He hated leaving things uncertain.

Taking hold of the knob, he pulled the door open to see that Yui was indeed in her new bedroom, seemingly sound asleep on the bed. Her new school uniform was resting on the foot of the bed, while her duffel bag and school bag sat at her side. He was angry to see that she was now looking even more filthy than before, almost as though she had been rolling around in the dirt outside. Now Reiji would have to call the maids to clean the sheets and carpet, which were covered in mud, on top of needing her to bathe once again.

It was like she was making a game out of inconveniencing him, Reiji thought.

Walking over to her side of the bed, he spoke to her in an irritated tone of voice.

"Wake up and clean yourself up. We need to leave soon and I will not tolerate any more delays on your part." He had no intention of repeating himself to her, so if she did not hear him then it was her own fault for not listening.

The instant he finished speaking, her hazel eyes snapped open, turning upwards to look at him. She said nothing as she laid there, not even making a move to get up from the bed. Reiji narrowed his eyes at her, having enough of her lack of cooperation. But before he could lecture and berate her like he usually would, she abruptly sat up from her position and got up from the bed, walking past Reiji to reach the bathroom. She closed the door behind her, not saying a word to the bespectacled vampire or even acknowledging his existence. He frowned at the door, part of him wanting to burst into the bathroom and punish her for her insolence, but the gentleman in him prevailed. It was very impolite to walk in on a lady in the bathroom. If only his brothers would take that lesson to heart…

Hearing the water from the bathtub turn on, he turned away from the door and walked out of the bedroom. He reasoned that if she was not completely dimwitted, she would be able to figure out what to and be ready for the limo to take them to school. There was no need for him to babysit a human.

When the Sakamaki brothers all met back up in the entrance hall to go to school, they were slightly surprised to see Yui waiting for them, uniform on and sitting on the same loveseat that Ayato had been napping on when she first arrived. Her school bag was laying on the couch by her side, and she seemed to be twirling her wet, stringy hair in with her fingers while waiting. Strangely, while she put on the uniform well enough, it looked as though she had completely discarded the long, knee length black socks that came with it, leaving her skinny legs quite barren.

Hearing the six vampires coming her way, she turned to face them with an emotionless expression. Laito's expression brighten up and he waved at her.

"Creepy-chan! There you are! We've been looking all over for you~!" he called to her, cheerful smile lighting up his face. Yui said nothing to him as she continued to stare at the brothers, not moving from her seat. Ayato frowned as he marched towards her and took her wrist into his hand, pulling her up from the loveseat. He glared down at her, acidic green eyes looking into dull hazel.

"Oi, get up. We're going to school." He stated before he dragged her out through the mansion doorways and towards the waiting limousine outside the front gates. Laito chuckled as the rest of the Sakamaki brothers followed them outside.

"Ayato is always so possessive with his toys; he never lets anyone else play with them." He said, looking at Ayato forcing Yui into the limousine before seating himself right beside her. Beside him, Kanato buried his face into his stuffed bear and glared at the human girl. He knew that he would definitely not like the new bride, especially if she kept doing things to make him angry.

"She hasn't been made to suffer for trying to touch Teddy yet…" he grumbled, purple eyes darkening with malicious intent.

"That's enough, you two," Reiji chastised the two triplet brothers, "We're in a hurry, so stop your nonsense." Laito and Kanato gave no outward reaction to Reiji's lecture, they usually just ignored him anyway. With Subaru rolling his eyes and Shuu grumbling about how loud everyone was being, they all filed into the car after Ayato and Yui.

The first few minutes of the drive to Ryoutei Academy were quiet; like they usually were. The brothers never engaged in conversation with each other unless they were arguing, and even then the fighting would be short lived while they were in the limo. Whenever they were given a bride, however, there would always be some sort of activity.

Yui had spent about five minutes just staring out of the window as the darkness of the night sped past her, ignoring the six vampire who were irritated with her to some degree. Ayato decided to break the tension by talking to her, silently hoping he could get a quick bite of her before they arrived at school.

"What's on your mind, Oddball?" he asked her. Not that he really cared about what she thought, he just wanted to get any sort of reaction out of her. He realized he once again failed, however, when she gave no response to his question and just continued to gaze out the car window. Sucking his teeth in annoyance, he grabbed her by the shoulder and whirled her around to face him, green eyes blazing.

"You know, you've got a lot of nerve to defy Yours Truly, Oddball." He growled at her. Yui just stared at him with her dull eyes, seemingly not caring in the slightest that he was angry with her. This only irritated him more, not used to being rebuffed like this by a human.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Say something!" he growled in frustration. Once again, she said nothing. Deciding he was done with talking to her, he grabbed Yui by her long hair and pulled her head back, exposing her pale neck to him. As he opened his mouth and was about to rip into her skin with his fangs to finally receive his long-awaited meal, he was stopped by the sudden sound of Reiji loudly closing his book. Ayato glared at his older half-brother, once again having been interrupted by the bespectacled vampire.

"Ayato, how many times do I have to tell you before you finally listen? _Take such activities to your private room._ " Reiji scolded, hating to have to explain such simple etiquette to his brothers.

Ayato decided not to dignify his brother with a response, only letting go of Yui and crossing his arms across his chest and pouting. Now free of his grasp, the dull-eyed girl turned her gaze back to the window, acting as if what had just transpired never even happened.

Taking the opportunity, Reiji took out a small box of 100% cranberry juice from his pocket and held it out to Yui.

"This is for you." He said. Yui looked at the drink in his hands for a few seconds before taking it from him, examining the box as though she did not know what to do with it. Reiji inwardly groaned, hoping that she was not so simple-minded that she did not even know what juice boxes were for.

"Cranberry juice is the best cure for weak blood. Given that you already know what we are, I assume you know that you must drink it regularly." Reiji explained, offhandedly letting his brothers know that the bride was aware of their true nature. This caught the attention of the other five vampires in the car, their eyes turning to the sacrifice. Ayato unfolded his arms and looked at his prey with curiosity.

"What? You already know, Oddball?" he asked herm this time not really expecting a response from her. Yui did not disappoint him, ignoring him and staring at the small juice box in her hands. This bit of information did not surprise the youngest Sakamaki son, however, as he remembered his little interaction with her in the rose garden before they left for school. If anything, he had been wondering how long it would be before any of his older half-brothers caught on to the fact that she knew they were vampires.

Well, he supposed that answered his question…

Yui paid no heed to the vampires in the car as she continued to look at the juice box in her hand. When she finally turned her attention away from the small cardboard box, her eyes locked onto Reiji's, catching the attention of the second-born son. Before he could question her about what she wanted, she pressed the button right beside her to roll down the window, cold night air seeping through. To the Sakamaki brother's surprise, she chucked the juice box out of the window before nonchalantly rolling it back up, going back to watching the darkened forest zoom past her.

Ayato stared at her in shock, her brazen act of defiance making him wonder if his new prey was incredibly stupid or just suicidal. He turned to look at Reiji, seeing his half-brother narrow his eyes at the human menacingly while adjusting his glasses. He had seen that look on the usually well-mannered vampire before; it was always right before he would take whoever had angered him to the dungeons to "teach them a lesson."

Even Ayato knew that it was better to steer clear of Reiji whenever he became that incensed. Oddball had really pissed him off now…

"I won't need it." That was all Yui had to say about her actions, obviously not caring about how her vampiric captors would feel about her complete disregard for their orders. Despite Reiji's building rage, however, he decided against punishing her there and then. Now was not the time, after all.

"If that is your reasoning, then you clearly have not truly realized your place. You are our prey; **do not forget that**." He said, getting the last word in.

The rest of the drive to Ryoutei Academy was dead silent.

* * *

When they finally arrived at school, they all filed out of the limousine and walked to the front entrance. All the other students around them quickly took notice of the odd girl showing up to school with the Sakamaki brothers, wondering if she was a distant relative of theirs. This idea, however, was quickly shot down by most. The Sakamakis' were all exceptionally beautiful and glamourous, easily charming more than half of the female students at Ryoutei. The girl with them, however, was anything but, with her unkempt appearance and eerie gaze. There was something about her presence that just felt _off_ , making the decision to avoid her at all costs easy to make.

When they entered the main hallway, the brothers waited for Reiji to explain the school arrangement to their newest sacrifice.

"You will be in the same class as Ayato and Kanato, so go with them." He said, motioning to the two vampires standing to the side. Responding with only a faint nod, Yui was about to make her way over to them before Reiji stopped her by roughly grabbing her shoulder, gripping it tightly. He leaned down to her level, looking straight into her eyes before warning her,

"Unless you want a whipping, you will not do anything reckless." Before he even finished his warning/thinly-veiled threat, Yui had jerked her shoulder out of his grasp and began to walk down the hall towards the classrooms, acting as though Reiji had not even said anything. The second Sakamaki son sighed deeply in irritation; he was not sure why this bride had made it her duty to go out of her way to annoy him, but he was not going to stand for it. However, now was not the time to act on his anger; there was school to attend to. Without another word, Reiji turned and began to walk towards his own classroom, disregarding his brothers who were giving him strange looks, ranging from amused to confused.

When Yui made it to her classroom, she saw that Ayato and Kanato were the only ones there, both of them sitting at their desks. Ayato seemed to be sleeping on his desk, using his folded arms as a pillow. Kanato was sitting in his chair and looking at his beloved teddy bear, giggling to it as though it had said something humourous. The three paid no mind to each other as Yui walked towards the chalkboard, seeing the instructions written down.

 _FOOD PREP IN ECONOMICS ~ ASSEMBLE IN THE TRAINING ROOM AT 7:30 pm_

"Food… prep…?" Yui asked herself in confusion, as if she did not understand the need for such a class.

"Food prep?" Ayato said, snapping out of his supposed sleep upon hearing his prey's voice. He raised his head to look at the chalkboard with a knowing, excited smirk. He got out of his wooden chair and grabbed Yui's wrist, pulling her closer to him. She looked up at him with her usual emotionless stare, though his smirk did not falter at this.

"I know what you're gonna do to apologize for your attitude!" he said to her, excited at his plan. He then dragged Yui out of the classroom by her wrist, not giving her a chance to respond. Not that she planned to, anyway.

Arriving in one of the school kitchens, Ayato grabbed his human's shoulders and told her what he wanted to her do for him.

"Make me the best takoyaki in the world!" he ordered. Yui tilted her head slightly in response as her eyes furrowed in confusion.

"But…" she began before being rudely cut off by Ayato's demands.

"No back talk! Yours Truly will be eating them for you. Now get cooking!" he barked at her, expecting her to give in and simply do what he wanted. That's what all the other brides did sooner or later. They learned that it was best to just do what he asked of them rather than fight back and risk being punished.

"But… I do not know what that is…" Yui said, breaking Ayato out of his musings and pulling him back into reality.

" _Huh_? You don't know what takoyaki is?" he asked in astonishment. She nodded, and the redhaired vampire resisted the urge to smack his palm against his forehead. What kind of girl was she? She did not know what takoyaki was, let alone how to make it? Ayato had already figured out that this human was… different from the other brides they had been given, but he still did not expect her to be this utterly clueless! Looking around the room, he spotted a cook book in one of the cabinets and took it, flipping through the pages before he found the recipe for his favourite food in the world. He held the open book up to her face, making sure she got a good look at it.

"Here! This is takoyaki! The recipe's right here, now start cooking already!" he shouted, holding the cook book in front of her before she took it from him, looking over the recipe. Ayato crossed his arms and looked down at her with a frown. He hoped now that she had the instructions right in front of her, she would make herself useful and start cooking him the best takoyaki on the world. He did not anticipate that she would look up at him from the book, her hazel eyes narrowing slightly.

"If you want this… _takoyaki_ … so much, why not make it for yourself?" she asked him, her eyes burrowing into his.

"Are you joking or something? I'm above such menial tasks! Besides, I ordered you to do it!" he argued, taken aback at her question. Did she actually expect him, a vampire who was superior to her kind in every way, to do such lowly work? She had to have a few screws loose or something, because she clearly did not know who she was dealing with!

"Oh, I see…" Yui suddenly said in a knowing tone of voice, the corners of her mouth curling slightly upwards into the faintest of smirks, her hazel gaze suddenly taking on a certain sense of antagonism. "You can't make them either, _can you?_ " she practically mocked him.

This accusation made something deep inside Ayato snap. How dare she, a lowly human, say that there was something he could not do! He knew was the best of the best; there was nothing that was beyond him, let alone making a simple snack!

He roughly snatched the recipe book out of her hands and skimmed through the instructions, now firmly intent on proving her wrong.

"I can't believe how stupid you are, even for a human! Yours Truly is number one; there's nothing I can't do!" he exclaimed before he began to gather everything he would need to make takoyaki. After that, he turned to Yui with fire in his green eyes.

"You should be honoured; you're about to taste the best takoyaki ever made! Watch and learn, Oddball!" he said before going right to work, doing his absolute best to make it look like he actually knew what he was doing to. Yui simply took a seat at the table, watching him diligently attempt to cook something he must have eaten regularly but did not have the foggiest idea of how to make, even with the recipe right there in front of him. Her smirk widened for just a moment before her face went back to its usual emotionless state.

When Ayato was done, he presented the takoyaki to her as though it was the pinnacle of culinary success, even though it barely looked like the picture in the cook book. It was unevenly burnt, the shaping was sloppy, and there was even a small tentacle poking out of one of them. Still, the redhaired vampire threw a self-satisfied smirk her way, clearly very proud of his work.

"Well? Aren't you going to eat one?" he said to her, shoving the plate of what was supposed to be takoyaki closer to her. After a moment, Yui used a toothpick to pick up one of the octopus balls and put it in her mouth. After chewing for about five seconds, her face scrunched up in clear dislike, which Ayato took exception to.

"Hey! Why're you making a face like it doesn't taste good?" he asked, offended at her negative reaction to his food. Clearly she was even more dimwitted than he thought, she wouldn't know good food if her life depended on it, he thought.

Intending to show her the error of her ways, he took a piece for himself and eagerly took a bite, which he instantly regretted after tasting it. Still, Oddball did not have to know that, so he still managed to force himself to swallow. He looked to her with a smirk, though he was beginning to feel a bit ill.

"See? It's the best! You just don't know good takoyaki." He said to her. She did not reply, she just stared at him with an unconvinced look before she got up from her seat and picked up the dirty dishes, walking over to the kitchen sink before dropping them in and rinsing them off. Her sleeves became wet since she did not roll them up, but if this did bother her at all she was certainly not showing it.

Ayato lazed around in one of the chairs, using his leg to rock himself back and forth. The sight of her with her back turned and her guard lowered, however, reignited his hunger. It was time to stop playing nice, he thought.

Teleporting himself directly behind her, he hoped to startle her when she turned around. However, when she noticed where he was, she calmly stopped washing the dishes and turned around to face him, looking almost bored. Ayato's irritation returning, he grabbed her by the waist and forced her away from the sink and up against a nearby wall.

"I've been holding back since yesterday..." he growled, taking her chin into his hand, "Now let me suck your blood."

He turned her head to the side, exposing her delicious, unbitten neck. He could feel his excitement building, his fangs itching to tear themselves into her. A meal always tasted better when you worked for it, and Ayato had definitely worked for it.

It was strange, she was not the type Ayato would usually go for. She was brazen, disobedient, an unkempt slob, and just downright unsettling. But perhaps the fact that she constantly had this air of confidence is what drew him to her. He wanted to be the one to show her how helpless she was, that she was nothing more than a source of blood. He wanted to be the one to break her down, just like he had many times before. Besides, he had been the one to see her first, which meant that she belonged to him; he could do what he wanted with her, and would only let her go when he became bored. But for now, he was dead set on tasting her blood.

"You're mine. _I'm going to take all of your first experiences._ " He said to her, pulling her shirt and school jacket down, revealing her pale shoulder. Yui's face showed no fear or panic, but at this point Ayato did not care; he just wanted to finally take what was rightfully his.

" _ **I wouldn't do it if I were you**_ _…_ " she whispered to him, her tone of voice sounding completely calm. Ayato stopped at this, confused that what should be her plea for him to stop sounded more like a warning. He shook it off, however, believing it was just her way of trying to save herself. Besides, as if she had the right to tell him what to do.

After holding himself back for far too long, the redhaired vampire's fangs pierced the skin on her neck, her blood flowing out of her wounds and into his waiting mouth. He drank deeply as he held her tighter to him, his thirst finally being sated. He was pleasantly surprised that her blood tasted better than it smelled, even if it was still a bit off; she made a good meal.

He pulled away from her, admiring the two holes he had left on her neck. It was his mark, something that told others that this girl was his and his alone.

"Not bad, Oddball. You taste pretty good." He said to her with a smirk, not expecting her to answer him now that he had taken enough blood to render her half-conscious. He buried his face back into the crook of her neck, watching the blood run down from her wound.

"You know what? I actually like you." He said wearing a crazed grin. He reinserted his fangs back into her neck, still holding out hope that she would cry and beg him to stop. She did not however, and even though Ayato could not currently see her face he could tell that she still had that same blank expression. What he did not expect, however, was to feel her hand against his chest push him away with a surprising amount of force, ripping his fangs put of her skin and causing him to stumble back. He noted, however, that she groaned in what he knew was pain when she tore him away from her.

When he regained his footing, he looked back at Yui, her face now conveying annoyance and anger. Ayato was thrilled, however; he had finally gotten her to react to him!

"You've been ignoring and shrugging me off since the beginning. But now that I've finally heard you cry out in pain, I can't wait to see your face twist in fear and agony…!" he said excitedly before he stalked over to her.

"I would advise you to stop." Yui told him firmly.

"Like hell I will." He shrugged her off again, descending upon her to continue feeding. After almost a minute went by, Ayato knew that he had taken so much of her blood that she had lost consciousness. Looking at her face, however, revealed a peaceful expression, a smile gracing her lips. She looked as though she had simply drifted off into sleep, not having been fed on by a vampire. She really knew how to confuse him, Ayato thought to himself.

"You are a disgrace." He heard a familiar voice behind him. Turning around, he saw Reiji standing by the doorway, arms folded and looking very cross with him.

"I never dreamed you would do this at school." The bespectacled vampire scolded his younger half-brother, clearly displeased with him. Ayato sucked his teeth in annoyance.

"Damn it, Reiji. I was just getting to the best part." He said, frowning at his brother. Reiji only sighed and adjusted his glasses.

"At the very least take responsibility and make sure she gets home." He said, looking past Ayato and down at the human girl. He gave a short glare at her before turning around and walking out of the kitchen, turning off the light on his way.

Ayato, glad that his killjoy of a brother was gone, looked down at Yui, who still looked like she was just peacefully sleeping. He took her into his arms, carrying her bridal style out of the room and brushing off the fact that he could feel a headache coming on.

Strange, especially considering he did not notice one of his veins near his temple turn black for only a moment, before going back to it's usual, pale skin tone.

* * *

 **I hoped you liked this chapter. It's a bit more light-hearted than the others, at least in the middle, since I don't just want it to be** **only** **horror. It's also a bit longer than usual, which is what I'm trying to do for both of my stories. Anyway, enjoy!**


	5. Dreaming Creatures

**Good god, I can't believe I haven't updated three months. I am so sorry, but I have been very busy with school. Please don't tar and feather me! Anyway, I'm happy to give you the next chapter, enjoy.**

* * *

The mansion's indoor swimming pool always felt cold and lifeless. While, like all of the rooms in the Sakamaki household, it was beautifully decorated and the water cast an eerily calm blue glow over the entire room, no one ever went in there on a regular basis, as none of the Sakamaki sons were avid swimmers, especially not Ayato.

Ayato was not completely sure why he had brought her to the indoor pool. He almost never went down there himself, and it was not like he had some sort of plan in mind for her. Honestly, how could he come up with a way to have fun with his new prey when his head was killing him?

Ever since leaving school, the ache in his brain was steadily getting worse and worse, until it felt like something was pounding against his skull like a jack hammer. He had laid the unconscious Yui on the blue couch next to the pool while he took a seat on the cushioned armrest, trying to nurse his migraine. When he could almost see his vision begin to blur, he heard the human on the couch begin to stir.

He turned around to see Yui sitting upright on the blue couch, staring at him with her usual look of indifference.

"You're awake?" he asked, getting up from the armrest to stalk over to his prey. She continued to stare at him with an apathetic look on her face, almost as though she were _**bored**_ by his attempts to terrorize her. The thought only inflamed Ayato's drive to make her realize how vulnerable she really was. When he was finally in front of her, he bent down to face her, looking at the human girl with sinister determination.

"If you're looking at me like that, then you obviously haven't gotten it through your head." He said before taking her into his arms and lifting her off the couch. He carried her over to the edge of the swimming pool while searching for any trace of emotion on her face, which was met with nothing.

As Ayato stood close to the edge with Yui in his arms, he briefly wondered if she even knew how to swim. This thought was quickly dashed by the fact that if she did not, she would be able to feel her own helplessness in the most intense way imaginable. Nothing could instill fear into someone quite like a near death experience, if you asked him. Either way, he knew that this should get the message across to even the most dimwitted human.

"You are at the mercy of Yours Truly," he began, looking over the almost luminescent pool with determination in his eyes, "It's time to drop the attitude and learn your place!"

In an instant, Ayato flung her out of his arms and into the pool, the bride landing in the water with a large _splash_. He down to see her sinking to the bottom, a feeling of smug victory building inside of him.

"Now, tell me I'm the best. Tell me that I'm better than anyone else in the word, and _that you belong to me._ " He commanded, watching the human girl reach the bottom of the pool. For a few moments, she merely lingered at the bottom, making Ayato wonder if she was trying to drown herself. Before long, however, she suddenly sprung to life, speeding to the top like a water jet. Well, she could swim after all, he briefly thought to himself.

When her head finally broke through the surface of the water, she had her back turned away from him, obstructing his view of her face. Her long hair brown clung to her face and body, reminding him of how she was when she first arrived at the Sakamaki mansion. She made no move to turn around to face him, instead seeming to take a very keen interest in the wall across from her.

" **I've humoured you for long enough**." She suddenly said, surprising him with her suddenly angry tone of voice.

Ayato frowned at this. So, she still thought that she was allowed to defy him, did she? Fine then, he would just have to keep on punishing her until it got through her head she was his to toy with. Just as he was about to go in there to turn her around so he could teach her a lesson, she did so of her own accord, and the redhaired vampire physically reeled back in shock at what he saw.

She was glaring at him with what had to be the most intense look of pure hatred he had ever seen on any human. Her lips were pursed into a straight line, contorting her face into a deep frown. However, what truly chilled the vampire to the bone was the fact that _her eyes had gone completely black_. No pupils, no scleral, nothing but empty, black voids that seemed to burrow into his green eyes. Her entire body seemed to radiate pure malice and hatred, which was currently all directed at him.

The moment Ayato had taken in her now frightening face, his previously forgotten migraine returned with a vengeance, pounding into his skull like a jack hammer and causing him to double over from the pain, forcing him to his knees. He cried out in agony, his hands clutching his head with such force that he came close to ripping his own hair out. He struggled to lift his head back up to face her, his vision beginning to blur and fade in and out. He did not have to out as much effort into finding her, since in the time he had taken his eyes off of her she had managed to swim right to the edge to the pool, her face mere inches away from his. She was staring directly at him with her empty black eyes, her arms resting on the tiled floor in between them.

She no longer looked angry with him, now she simply looked annoyed, as though Ayato was a stain that had blemished her favourite outfit. The vampire was in far too much pain to be able to verbally put her in her place. Even if he was not, Ayato was not sure he would even be able to form a coherent sentence with those obsidian eyes of hers glaring at him.

" **Besides,** " she began to speak once again, her voice now seemed to carry a surreal and almost otherworldly lilt, " **Why should I listen to a pathetic little boy who** _ **can't even swim**_ **?** "

As soon as she said that, she pressed her hand against his exposed chest and shoved him backwards. Ayato expected to fall flat on his back against the pool's tiled floor, but instead he felt his entire body being engulphed in… water?

Coming to his senses, the redhaired vampire was completely submerged, momentarily leaving him paralyzed with confusion before coming to his senses and hastily swimming upwards to the surface. While the unbearable pain in his skull had mercifully gone away, he was now in far too great a state of shock to try and process what exactly had just happened. After his head broke through the water, he wasted no time taking in his surroundings, only to find a hauntingly familiar scene in front of him.

It was all there. The forest surrounding him, the grand, imposing castle out in the distance. And _**her**_ , standing on the edge lake, looking down on him with her cold, green eyes that were so much like his own. Ayato could feel his blood begin to boil as he looked up at her, not having wanted to ever look at her face again. His feelings of loathing towards the woman who brought him into the world were put aside, however, when he felt something slither around his ankle underneath the water of the lake, grabbing onto it with tremendous force. The vampire prince looked down to see if he had had been caught in some form of seaweed, only to be greeted with a ghoulish looking humanoid hand, its fingers unnaturally long and gangly, with nails razor sharp and black as coal.

Ayato struggled to free his leg from the hand, only for another one to rise from the depths and grab on to his other leg. This did not make the redhaired vampire give up, and he brought both of his arms down to release himself manually. Before he could blink, more hands began to surface, latching onto his limbs with a vice grip. Now sufficiently panicked, he tried in vain to free himself as the hands began to slowly drag him down underneath the water.

"Get the hell off of me!" he cried before wrenching in pain as one of the hands raked its long, black fingernails across his cheek, splitting his pale skin. Blood streaming down his face and having no luck freeing himself from the ghastly appendages, he turned his green eyes to the woman staring down at him from the lake's shore, eyes just as cold and unfeeling as he remembered. In a moment of weakness and desperation, he found himself struggling to reach out to her.

 _Help me, Mother!_ _Save me!_

But of course, she simply stood there, looking down on him as the hands began to claw and swipe at him, tearing his flesh off of his bones and exposing red, veiny muscle underneath. As his blood mingled with the water of the lake, Ayato could hear a genderless, airy voice hiss in his ear before the hands dragged him completely underwater,

" _You won't have to worry about being the best anymore…_ _ **not where you're going**_ _…_ "

* * *

Ayato could feel himself gasp desperately for air when he woke up, more out of pure shock rather than a need for oxygen. For a few brief moments, he felt completely disoriented. Taking a few seconds to slowly come to his senses and absorb his surroundings, he realized that he was lying on the floor of the mansion's indoor pool. Sitting up, he looked around the area in search of… well, he was not quite sure what. The voice? The ghoulish hands? _Her_?

"That was… all a dream?" he whispered to himself in astonishment. No, there was no way that was just a dream! It all felt so real, _too real_! He could feel the white hands tear at his flesh, see the blood run from his wounds. He could still feel _that woman_ staring at him from the side of the lake, looking down on him with her cold green eyes. And… Oddball…

Suddenly remembering their human houseguest, Ayato stood up from the floor and looked over to the loveseat, only to see the human girl sleeping in the same position he had left her. Looking at her with a feeling of dread creeping up on him, he made his way over to her, not taking his eyes off of her sleeping form. When was finally in front of her, he unconsciously reached down to touch her, as if he wanted to know if she was real or not. When he was just about to make physical contact, her eyes snapped open, causing Ayato's non-beating heart to freeze.

Much to the relief of the redhaired vampire, he was greeted with her normal dull hazel eyes, not those terrifying, empty black voids that he could still faintly feel burrow into him. For a few moments the two stared at each other, as if waiting for the other to make a move. And then, to Ayato's surprise, a crooked grin began to form on her face, her eyes lighting up with amusement.

"I see… creatures like you _can_ feel fear…" she said before breaking out into quiet, wispy cackling, finding un-ending amusement in seeing such a high and mighty vampire be reduced to such a state.

Ayato could feel rage begin to build within him again, distracting him from his previous feeling of terror. Damn it, he was a vampire! There was no way he would let a lowly human frighten him! He needed to remind her (as well as himself) that he was the one in control of this situation.

Without saying a word, the redhaired vampire pulled her upper body close to him before craning her neck upwards and sinking his fangs into her skin. Her blood flowed from her puncture wounds and into his waiting mouth. To his smug delight, her laughter stopped dead in her throat as he drank from her. Ayato could feel her blood flowing within him, quenching his thirst. It began to dawn on him that her blood seemed to taste better than before; it had more sweetness, more vigor. While it was still not the best blood he had ever tasted, he was nonetheless impressed; he had never seen a human's taste improve in quality so quickly.

Well, this bride was just full of surprises, wasn't she?

After having drank his fill, he withdrew his fangs from her neck as he let go of her torso, causing her to fall backwards onto the blue couch. Bringing his hand to his face to wipe her blood from his mouth, Ayato continued to eye the girl on the couch who looked more or less fine, given that she had just had her blood sucked by a vampire. She was in such good condition that she sat up on the loveseat with little to no difficulty, apparently not feeling any dizziness.

Ayato acted quickly, roughly grabbing her by the arm to stop her from getting off the couch.

"Hey, I wasn't done with you ye-" he was abruptly cut off by her turning to face him and reach out to him, resting her hand against his cold cheek. Both confused and annoyed by her bold move, he urged his body to move away from her touch, only for a now familiar sense of fear and dread to creep up on him, freezing him in place. Her face was about 10 centimetres from his, her doll-like hazel eyes burrowing into his acid green.

Ayato had come to realize just how much he hated the way she looked at him. Her gaze was intense and accusatory, as if she knew some deep, dark secret of his that she would not tell but would gladly hold against him. Part of him wondered if she actually did know more about him than she let on, but he quickly dashed those thoughts. How could she possibly know anything personal about him when she had only been at the mansion for two nights? Besides, who was she to judge him? He was above her insipid human moral code!

Caught in his thoughts, Ayato almost did not notice her face moving closer towards his. When he did finally snap out of his musings, her mouth was right up to his ear.

" _You can still feel them, can't you? The hands… clawing at your flesh_ …" she whispered to him.

Upon hearing her words, the redhaired vampire could feel his blood turn to ice in his veins. Flashing him one more knowing look, she withdrew from Ayato and sat up, casually walking away from the petrified vampire. He looked back at her with wide eyes as she exited the indoor pool, leaving him all alone.

The arrogant vampire remained in the same position for a while, trying to make sense of what had transpired. For a few moments, he was completely still. But as he began to put his thoughts together, his body started to tremble with suppressed chuckles, which before long turned into a full blown maniacal laughter that echoed throughout the tiled room. Anticipation and exhilaration wildly flowed through his body, and Ayato began to realize that he found himself becoming more excited than he had been in a _very_ long time.

He… had never been challenged like this by a bride before…! All of the ones that had come before Yui were all so submissive and weak-willed. Sure, they would feebly resist, but even before they were inevitably broken they would still bend to vampire's every whim regardless. They were far too fearful to do anything that would make him or his brothers angry, even at their own expense. They constantly lived in fear, which was normally something Ayato liked. But in recent years he had found himself growing bored of same routine.

How old did you have to be before you grew _bored_ of killing humans?

But Yui Komori, Ayato realized, was brazen and disobedient. She never gave away any signs that she was at all afraid of the Sakamakis', even after learning they were vampires. While this most definitely made him doubt her sanity, it was refreshing to finally see a bride that refused to go down without a fight.

' _Alright then,_ ' Ayato thought, a sadistic smile forming on his face, ' _I'll give her the fight of her life. When she finally submits to me and realizes that I'm her master, it'll be all the more_ _ **satisfying**_ _…_ '

* * *

A loud crash could be heard from the other side of the door, no doubt a vase being thrown to the floor.

"Gone? _**What do you mean she's gone?!**_ " a man roared, voice dripping with anger and malice.

Sister Noriko stood outside the wooden door, terrified for both herself and for her friend who was already on the other side and had apparently just given the bad news to Father Fujioka. When they had both heard about what happened, they knew that he would be absolutely furious. For a few minutes they had actually argued about who would be the one to go tell him that after all of his meticulous planning, the Elm Witch had managed to escape captivity.

She honestly did not even know how it could have happened. Her cell had been specifically designed so that she would not be about to get out. The bars were made of sturdy steel, the walls were decorated with wards to cancel out her powers, it was isolated and heavily guarded. Noriko had heard that the Witch was clever and sharp enough to avoid capture for so many years, but this time she had thought they finally had her.

Well, she had just proven them all wrong.

Noriko was startled by the door being suddenly flung open, Sister Hoshina stumbling out into the hall. The young nun could only stand there in shock as she heard the enraged Father Fujioka rant and rave, seemingly to himself now that Hoshina was no longer in the office with him.

"Damn it! Damn it all to hell! Thirty-five years of planning; _**wasted!**_ " his voice rang out. Noriko turned to see that Hoshina had already begun to run down the hall as if the hounds of hell were chasing after her. She was tempted to join her friend when she felt the Father's grey eyes, stormy with rage, lock onto her. Instantly she froze in place, trembling in fear.

"You," he said, pointing at her, "Tell me what happened. _**Now**_." Noriko did not waste a moment to obey, lest she suffer the man's wrath.

"At around noon yesterday, sh-she somehow managed to remove the wards in her cell that were blocking out her powers. She got out, killed the guards who tried to stop her, and fled the compound. W-we currently have no idea where she is…" she reported, merely parroting what she had been told about the situation.

Honestly, she thanked the good Lord that she had not been there when the Witch escaped. From what she had heard later, she had left a massacre in her wake. There had been about 40 guards standing between her and freedom; all of them had been brutally slaughtered by the day's end. Their corpses littered the halls, bent and twisted into horrific, unnatural positions with a strange black bile leaking from their mouths and eyes. It was a truly gruesome sight to behold.

As expected of the Elm Witch. She was a creature completely devoid of mercy or remorse, so said the myths.

Father Fujioka, having heard enough, marched back into his office and slammed the door shut, leaving Noriko outside in the hallway. Sitting down at his desk, he put his hands on his head and let out a frustrated sigh.

He almost did not want to believe it. She had escaped right from under his nose. He had put so much thought and effort into making sure she would never be able to get away and continue to pollute the world with her evil. He had exhausted all of his resources in order to obtain magic wards that would be strong enough to depower her, along with top of actually locating her lair.

It had taken him 35 years to capture her. It took her less than a month to escape and make it all for nothing. _It was as if she was mocking him._

Father Fujioka looked to the old, sepia photograph that stood framed on his desk. His idiot of a grandfather, strong and powerful in his prime at age 24, stood proud in what looked to be a very elegant drawing room. There at his side was a young girl who looked to be in her teens, with long, stringy hair and piercing eyes that seemed leap out of the photograph and into his very being. On her colourless face was a look of complete indifference, betraying no emotion. The same could not be said for the bearded man next to her with his arm around her shoulders, who practically beamed with pride, looking as though he believed he could conquer the world.

The priest's eyes briefly wandered to the bottom right of the picture, where a few words were hastily written down.

 _June 5_ _th_ _, 1934_

 _Satoshi Fujioka & Angela_

Angela. That had been the name his foolish grandfather had known that vile Witch by, though Father Fujioka knew that that was not her true name. That particular detail was something known only to her.

The priest looked away from the photograph in irritation, feeling more hopeless than ever. But she would not win. She would never humiliate another Fujioka man ever again.

With God as his witness, Taro Fujioka would be the one to put an end to the Elm Witch.

* * *

 **Okay, the chapter's finally done! Again, I'm very sorry it took so long. I really hope you liked it though, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.**


	6. Faustian Pact

**Okay… I know that it's been over a year since I updated and I am sooo sorry about that! Life just kind of… got away from me. What with school, family drama, and a general lack of inspiration, there was not much time for writing. Please forgive me, and I hope that you like this chapter!**

 **p.s. I'm also working the next chapter for Justine, so I hope you like that as well.**

* * *

None of the Sakamaki brothers ever looked forward to the monthly dinners they were forced to attend. They could not stand to be in each other's presence most of the time, and so they were mainly content to sit and eat their meals in silence, past and recent grievances barring them from speaking to one another. Whenever a bride would be present, they would have to awkwardly sit there, stuck in the middle of what had to be the most tense and uninviting dinner in the world.

If Yui could feel the thick air of unease in the room, she was definitely not letting it bother her. She sat there, staring at the impressive feast laid out in front of her, seemingly oblivious to the brothers' presence. She was not actually eating her dinner; she simply stared down at it with her usual blank expression. She almost seemed unimpressed with the spread, something that agitated Reiji. He was a gracious enough host to feed her a delicious meal, and she was not even touching it. She did not even have the decency to dress nicely for dinner, still wearing her worn green dress and brown cardigan. But he would not voice his disgust with her at that moment, not at the dinner table. He was a gentleman, after all.

Laito could not help but notice Yui's lack of interest in her food. The poor little thing must have been so scared of them it was affecting her appetite. Well, he had better take care of her, shouldn't he?

Appearing behind her, he bent down and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, essentially trapping her in his embrace.

"Poor little Creepy-chan. You haven't even touched your food. You need to eat something or else you'll become anemic. Would you like me to feed you~?" he said to her, tightening his hold over her. As expected, she did not say anything in return, or even turn around to look at him. She did not even acknowledge his presence.

" _ **Laito**_." Reiji's voice rang out, making the fedora wearing vampire look at him with an irritated expression on his face. Leave it to Reiji to always be there to spoil the mood.

"It's bad manners to get to your feet during a meal. Sit down." He commanded, leaving no room for argument.

"Yes, sir." Laito sighed in disappointment. His let go of Yui and left her side, but not before turning around to face her and say with a wink,

"Let's continue this another time, Creepy-chan." She did not respond. He hadn't expected her to, anyway.

To her left, Ayato sat and ate his food in silence, not really in the mood for conversation. The day before had to have been some of the worst sleep he had ever gotten in his life. He spent hours tossing and turning in his bed, too anxious to drift off. Even when sleep finally did manage to claim him, his dreams were swiftly turned into nightmares by the return of the ghoulish white hands, dragging him back down to the bottom of the lake. He had woken up in a cold sweat, like he had back at the pool with Yui. If his heart had even been capable of beating, it would have put a hummingbird to shame.

' _Damn it…_ ' he thought to himself, trying to focus on eating his meal. ' _If this keeps up, I'll have bigger bags under my eyes than Kanato…_ '

He figured that he was just still on edge from what happened at the pool, and that it would pass soon. Though what Yui said to him, that she somehow knew what he had experienced, left him both confused and agitated.

It didn't matter, he reminded himself. Right now, all he had to think about was eating his meal as fast as possible in order to get out of this stupid dinner Reiji insisted they all go to every month. He cut his gold-plated knife into his fish, ready to take another bite…

… Only for him to see a festering mass of white, writhing maggots emerge from his fish filet. Ayato had no idea how he hadn't noticed them before, as the small, squirming insects now covered the entire plate. He almost vomited on the spot when he dared to look down at his hand, only to find three of the wriggling larvae on his fork, _seemingly half eaten_.

Acting in a panic, he smacked the plate away from him, narrowly missing hitting Subaru in the face as it flew past him and shattered against the wall. He also rose from his chair at lightning speed, causing it to fall backwards behind him. The others all turned to look at the redhaired vampire, some in annoyance, others in puzzlement.

In a split second, where the disgusting creatures had been, they were gone, leaving behind only broken porcelain and a ruined meal.

"You bastard, what the hell's your problem?!" Subaru yelled in a rage, ready to tear his half-brother limb from limb. Ayato did not register that the white-haired vampire had even spoken, too focused on the fact that he had apparently swatted away maggots that were never really there.

Reiji, having gotten over his initial shock, was ready to tear into Ayato.

"I suppose you have a good reason for why you felt the need to ruin our monthly dinner, Ayato." He said in a less-than-pleased tone of voice.

The shell-shocked vampire did not respond to his angry older brother, he only continued to stare at what remained of his food in utter disbelief.

' _They… they were right there! I saw them!_ ' he thought, glancing around the room, looking for any sort of indication that his brothers had played some sort of elaborate prank on him. Next to him, Yui was acting as though nothing was wrong, looking at him with her usual indifference.

' _Damn it...!_ ' He thought to himself before grabbing her by the arm and wrenching her out of her chair before marching out of the dining room, the blank-faced human girl in tow. Those left at the table where left in an awkward silence before Reiji spoke up.

"Well, I suppose that dinner is over. You are all excused." Subaru wasted no time standing up and stomping out of the dining room, still fuming over the fact that Ayato almost hit him with his plate. The others filed out calmly, though there was a slight air of unease in the room. Kanato, who had remained mostly silent, looked down at his beloved stuffed companion with intrigue in his violet eyes.

"I think Ayato might be going insane. What do you think, Teddy..?" He said before exiting the dining hall.

After the others had left only Reiji remained, looking over at what had been his half-brother's food. Dinner had been an absolute disaster, he decided. Then again, it still was not worse than the time Subaru outright destroyed half of the dining hall in a rage after Laito said something unsavory to him about Christa.

"What a mess… Now I'll have to call the servants to clean it up…" he muttered to himself, adjusting his glasses in annoyance.

* * *

Barging into Yui's room, Ayato threw the human onto the large, pink canopy bed before quickly climbing on top of her, trapping her underneath him. He needed this; he **needed** to feel in control again.

"Let me suck your blood." He demanded, looking her square in the eye. From underneath him, Yui's eyes furrowed slightly, giving off a look of annoyance. She looked at him as though he were a stain on her shirt and not a vicious vampire who was demanding to feed from her. It really pissed him off.

He grabbed the neckline of her dull green dress and pulled it down, exposing the upper part of her chest and collar bone area. Just has he was lowering himself onto her to take a bite, her gravelly voice interrupted him.

"I'm taking a bath." It was not a request, it was a matter-of-fact statement. Ayato's eyebrow twitched in agitation. This was obviously another attempt to get under his skin. Before he could respond, she put her hands on his chest and, with surprising strength, pushed him off of her. She proceeded to get off the bed and walk towards the bathroom, turning her back on an enraged Ayato.

That smug little bitch, thinking she could just do whatever she wanted!

Fine, he'd allow her to take a bath, but he was going to get the last word in this time.

As Yui was about to open the door, Ayato roughly grabbed her forearm and pulled her back towards him, wrapping his arms around her to trap her in his viper-like grip. He wasted no time tugging her neckline down once again, only this time he had something different in mind. He began to painfully suck on the pale skin of her collarbone, not enough to draw blood but enough to hurt her and leave a mark. He could practically hear the hazel eyed girl wince, having been caught off guard by Ayato's bold move against her. He could feel her body tense in his. Still, though, she made no sound.

He pulled away to admire his handy work, looking at the angry red mark that formed on her skin.

"Now you've been marked by me. Just a small reminder of who you belong to." He said smugly, finally feeling like he had power over her. Looking down at her, he could see that she now had a prominent scowl on her face. Her lips were contorted into a deep frown, her eyes were looking at him with hatred. It had to be the most emotion Ayato had ever seen from her.

He was slightly unnerved, mostly because he was reminded of what she looked like in his hallucination back at the underground pool, but he currently felt so good from finally asserting his dominance over her that he didn't really care is she was pissed off at him. What matter was that _he had won_. Besides, what could one pathetic human do to him, anyway?

Deciding to save the rest for later, he pressed his mouth to her ear and whispered,

"We'll get to the good part later. Go ahead and take your bath, but you'd better be quick. I don't like to be kept waiting…" he then teleported out of Yui's room, feeling better than he had in days.

* * *

When "Yui" walked into the bathroom, one could practically feel the air turn tense and malicious. The girl went up to the mirror and looked at the mark that Ayato had left, glaring down at it with hatred in her eyes.

She was sure that Ayato found his little game to be very fun, _**but she was not amused**_.

Placing her hand over the mark Ayato had left her, she muttered something under her breath before the veins in her hand began to turn black, pulsating as she closed her eyes to focus. When her veins went back to normal and she once again fell silent, she lifted her hand from over her skin to reveal that the mark had completely disappeared, as though it had never even been there in the first place. She felt a bit better, now that the evidence of his stupid little game was gone.

As she turned towards the bathtub, Yui saw that it was already occupied. Shuu, the eldest Sakamaki son, was lying in the tub, eyes closed and clothing still on. He seemed to be in a deep sleep, apparently thinking that a bathtub filled with water was an ideal spot for a nap.

The hazel eyed girl walked over to the edge of the tub and stood there, staring down at him with hints of both curiosity and annoyance.

Shuu could feel her eyes on him, silently wondering what he was doing. At least she wasn't loud, he thought to himself. The thing that irritated the eldest Sakamaki about his brothers the most was the fact that they never knew when to shut up. Well, except for Reiji, but that was a whole other can of worms…

Deciding to break the ice, Shuu spoke.

"You don't have to look at me like that. I'm just having a bath, that's all."

"In your clothes?" Yui responded without hesitation, slightly surprising Shuu. He knew that she was more of the silent type, and she had almost never responded when his brothers tried to talk to her. Maybe she just liked him more, he wondered.

"Fine then, why don't you undress me?" he teased.

She did not answer him, just like he had expected. What he did not expect, however, was feeling the water shift. He opened his eyes in surprise, only to see her sitting across from him in the bathtub, her own clothing still on and now soaking wet.

"What did you do that for?" he asked. She did not respond, only looking at him with her usual dull expression.

Shuu's eyebrows furrowed slightly. Whatever. She could do what she wanted, just as long as she did not disrupt his nap.

"You're so weird." He said, closing his eyes with intent to fall back asleep. There they both sat in complete silence, hazel eyes focused directly on the blond vampire. After a few minutes, Yui's voice brought Shuu back from his state of half-sleep.

"Do you fear death?" she asked out of the blue, looking at him with intensity. The sound of her speaking was enough for him to open his eyes and look at her in confusion. To his surprise, despite the morbidity of her question, she did not actually sound fearful herself. She simply wanted to know what he thought. When the nature of her question finally registered, he actually found himself pondering over it.

Being a pureblooded vampire meant that he was, of course, essentially immortal. He could not perish from illness or old age like humans. Indeed, the only way for him to truly die would be for him to be killed by someone else. Also, given the fact that he was the son of the most powerful being in the Demon World, there were not many that could even do so. Now that he thought about it, he would most likely meet his end by being killed by Reiji, when he finally decided he was sick of looking at his older brother. He would probably hire a vampire hunter to kill him, just like had had done with their mother, Beatrix.

Not that he would bother to try and stop him, anyway.

"No, I don't." Shu told her, closing his eyes again.

"Why?" Yui asked, not satisfied with his answer. The blond vampire did not bother to open his eyes again to speak to her.

"What's the point? Besides, being alive is usually trouble than its worth. If I was dead, at least I wouldn't have to put up with everyone's crap." He said, hoping to end the conversation with that. But Yui was not done quite yet.

"Why do you find being alive troublesome?" Shuu began to frown.

"What does any of it really matter? All anyone does is annoy and pester you, and those that don't…" Before he knew it, memories of another time began to come back to him.

 **A kind smile.**

 **A ruby red apple.**

 **A happy dog.**

 **A burning village.**

"… Eventually leave you…" he finished, banishing his memories and the pain that came with them from his mind. Yui focused on his face.

"I see. So then, you do not fear your death… because you do not care about your life?" she clarified, her hazel eyes more intense than before. This definitely made Shuu open his eyes and focus them on her.

The room was filled with a deafening silence, the tension so thick one could cut it with a knife. Shuu stared directly into her hazel eyes before saying,

"You ask way too many questions." With that, he quickly pulled her body towards him, forcing her to fall onto his chest. The water in the tub splashed onto the floor due to the sudden movement, no doubt making a mess. Now that she was right in front of him, he grabbed her long brown hair and pulled it back, exposing her neck to him, ready to have his fill of the bride's blood. His eyes widened slightly, however at what he saw. Or rather, what he did not see.

Before dinner had started and they were all gathered around the table, Ayato would not shut up about the fact that he had been the first one of them to taste the new bride's blood. While Shuu had not cared in the slightest at the time, he was now wondering if his redhaired half-brother had been lying to them, since there was not the slightest trace of a bite wound anywhere on her neck. While Ayato could have just bitten her somewhere else, that was not his style.

Shuu did not like Ayato at all, but he knew him well enough to know that he would definitely leave his bites in a place that was very noticeable, like her neck. It was his way of marking his territory, letting the rest of them know that she belonged to him and him alone. But looking at her now, there was nothing there. Despite this, the elder Sakamaki son also felt that Ayato had been telling the truth about sucking her blood, since he could smell her lingering scent on him. No normal human could heal that fast, and yet she somehow managed to do it. Unless… she was not a normal human?

Now that he thought about it, when Ayato had first claimed to have fed from the bride was also around the same time when his strange behaviour had started. His outburst at dinner, the tense aura that surrounded him, the obvious bags under his eyes. Not to mention the girl's own oddities, how she never showed the slightest hint of being afraid of them…

Shuu was as lazy as a narcoleptic sloth, he could freely admit that to himself, but he was not an idiot. With everything that had been going on with Yui and Ayato… was drinking this girl's blood the reason behind the change in Ayato?

Looking down at her face, he could see her looking at him, a sinister grin on her lips and a knowing glint in her eyes.

 _Finally_ , it was as if she were saying, _one of you managed to figure it out_.

Letting go of her hair, he grabbed her by the arms and pulled her off of his chest, making sure she was facing him. For several minutes, they both at in the tub in absolute silence, daring each other to move or say something. Having enough of her creepy smile, Shuu sat up and climbed out of the tub, his clothes and shoes absolutely soaked with water. As he made his way to the door, he looked back at Yui. She was still sitting in the tub in the, her eyes looking directly at him, grin still on her face.

 _Something was wrong with her, that much was certain._

Shuu looked away and opened the bathroom door, finally leaving that bizarre situation behind. For now, he would go back to his room and decide whether or not he cared enough to actually go and find out more about the girl calling herself Yui Komori.

* * *

 _ **Seoul, South Korea**_

Sitting down in the waiting area of the hospital was unbelievably nerve-wracking for Seiji Komori. It had been hell getting him and Yui into Seoul, having to constantly look over his shoulder in case the Church had caught wind of what had happened and sent people after his daughter. He would never let them get their hands on her; he would be dead before that happened.

Aside from becoming a man of God, being a father was the most wonderful, most rewarding thing Seiji had ever done with his life. The fact that Yui was not his biological daughter meant nothing to him; he loved her with every fibre of his being and there was nothing he would not do for her.

When he'd heard from a fellow priest that his precious daughter had been offered up as the new sacrificial bride to the Vampire King's sons, all without his knowledge, he was absolutely devastated. He had dedicated his life to the Church and they betrayed him in the worst way possible.

He would have done anything, _anything_ at all to spare his dear child the fate of becoming the plaything of those wretched monsters.

He would even do something… that he later may not forgive himself of.

"Seiji." A friendly, familiar voice called out to him.

Snapped out of his musings, he turned to see a man with short black hair wearing a white doctor's coat, staring at him with sympathy and understanding. He calmed slightly, knowing why he was there.

"Sung-min." he greeted his old friend with a weary smile. The doctor smiled back at him, knowing that how tired he had to have been, noting the heavy bags under his eyes. He'd come all the way from Japan, after all.

"Come on, Seiji. When we're here, you've gotta to call me Dr. Park." He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. While this did get the tiniest smile out of the now ex-priest, it did not bring any light to his eyes.

"Right, sorry about that. I'm just a bit… out of sorts at the moment." He said, looking up at the doctor, who in turn frowned at Seiji's discomfort. Sung-min was a bit confused when his old friend had called him out of the blue and asked him for a huge favour, but he was happy to help.

That being said, what he'd asked the doctor to do was a very… odd task.

"So, how is Yui? Does she need me?" the ex-priest asked, voice laced with concern. Sung-min on the bench next to his friend.

"Don't worry, she's being prepped for surgery, and we have the donor heart ready for transplant. Everything should go smoothly." Seiji sighed in relief and gave the doctor a grateful smile.

"Of course, _Dr. Park_. With you operating, I know she's in good hands." Sung-min smiled back at Seiji and patted him on the back.

"Thanks. I'm the Head of Cardiology for a reason, you know." The two old friends shared a small laugh, the air around them becoming jovial.

"It's kind of amazing, isn't it? The last time I saw Yui, she had just started middle school. Now she's seventeen; she's almost all grown up." Sung-min fondly reminisced. Seiji looked away from Sung-min and down at his clasped hands, becoming engrossed in his own memories.

"You're right. She grew up in a blink of my eye." His eyes grew sad and his smile fell.

"Really… where did the time go...?" he murmured, his shoulders slumping as though they were weighed down. All Seiji had ever wanted was for Yui to have a happy, normal life. That was the very reason he ended up retiring as a vampire hunter. He did not want to constantly risk his life when he had someone who depended on him. If it was not for him and his continued ties to the Church, Yui would have never been selected as the sacrificial bride. It was **his** fault she had been put in such horrible danger, and he knew that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Seeing his friend so upset caused Sung-min's face to fall as well.

"Listen Seiji… I know you're going through a lot right now, and I'm here for you, but I need to know something." He said. Seiji nodded, but did not raise his head. The doctor continued,

"During Yui's examinations, I didn't find a single thing actually wrong with her heart. If she's perfectly healthy, why does she need a transplant so badly? I don't under-"

"Sung-min, if I don't get that heart out of Yui as soon as possible, _**it will kill her**_!" Seiji cut his friend off, his voice having a panicked edge to it. Sung-min's words died in his throat at the sound of the ex-priest's voice. After a few moments had passed, Seiji looked at the doctor with remorse in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I… I know that you're taking a big risk, operating on someone healthy. You could lose your medical license for that, right?" Sung-min gave a mirthless chuckle.

"Don't worry about stuff like that, this whole thing is under wraps. I know that you'd give your own life for Yui's sake and you've never lied to me before, so if you say that her heart's bad, then I believe you. And… even if that weren't true…" Sung-min looked directly into Seiji's eyes.

"I'd do anything for you, Seiji… I owe you my life, after all…" Seiji's smile returned to his face, touched by Sung-min's words.

A young nurse appeared from around corner.

"Dr. Park? The patient is ready now. We can begin the procedure." She said. Sung-min looked up to her and nodded.

"Thank you, Mi-young. I'll be right there." Sung-min got up from his seat and looked at Seiji reassuringly.

"Don't worry, Seiji. She's going to be just fine." He said before he turned away and left with the nurse, leaving Seiji alone.

As he waited while his daughter was having her operation, his thoughts drifted to the one who, in desperation, he went to for help. He remembered seeing her sitting in the middle of her cell with her back turned to him, with only the steel bars and magic-blocking wards separating them. As soon as he got her attention, she slowly turned to face him with those horrible, doll-like eyes of hers. A chill ran down his spine just thinking about it.

She had been his only option, and she had kept up her end of the bargain, but a part of him still felt as though he had made a deal with the Devil…

But for Yui's sake, he gladly do it all over again.

* * *

 **Just a quick note: I want to make something clear. Shuu is NOT suicidal. He doesn't _want_ to die, just doesn't really _care_ if he does. **


End file.
